Faded Memories
by Frost4n
Summary: Katrina-not the one from Denali-hates the Volturi and everyone in it. Always has. Always will. But when she and Skyler come to visit the Cullens and meets Alec, who looks vaigly familiar, will she change her mind? Rated in case
1. Meeting the Enemy

****

**A/N: Disclaimer-No I do not own the Twilight series. All rights go to whoever they belong to.**

**Hello, this is my very first story. Tell me what you think, but don't be mean. And sorry if you think the main character is mean or something, but I don't want to write a story where the main char. is too nice. Don't worry, there's some nice qualities about her. And there's some, uh, slightly violent scenes in this just to warn you. Oh, enjoy:)**

* * *

_"While I thought I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die" _-Leonardo De Vinci

********

~Katrina's POV~

"Hey, Sky." I said, brushing my spiky-tipped black hair out of my eyes. Skyler half-turned, still staring at the sunset but at the same time keeping me in his line of sight. He chuckled lightly, "Hello, Kati." he said.

I sighed, staring at what he was staring at, and wondered why he was taking so much interest in that. After all, we had seen thousands of sunsets, every one just the same as this. That's what happens when you've been a vampire for as long as us.

"I'm not just staring at the sun because I like it, you know." Skyler said. _Of course he knew what I was thinking._ Skyler could _control _minds, not just read them. Sometimes I think his gift is better than mine. He could read minds, erase memories, make someone remember something, and influence decisions. Of course, the last one required a lot of concentration. And then there was that pesky side effect. Sometimes he would get migraines if he tried to do something big, like erasing a whole lot of people's minds at the same time or making someone do something they probably would never do, like kill themselves.

"Did you hear? There's this vampire, Bella Cullen, who can block mental abilities." he continued, "I wonder if she can block our gifts." He must have noticed the interest flashing in my eyes, because he chuckled. Again.

"That would be such a unique gift to have." I noted. Maybe it was time to give Carlisle a visit. I hadn't seen him in, oh, about two hundred years.

"Then let's go to Forks, Washington." Skyler said, much more seriously this time. "I've got to say, you're less…irritable today. Why is that?" he turned to me, crimson eyes as dark as his hair(which, by the way, was crimson too) interested in what my agenda might be.

"Like you don't know." I said curtly. Let's just say, I wasn't used to being nice to people. But with Skyler it was different. We've known each other since we were human. But the first time I met him, he pushed me. I still wasn't quite over that. I don't even know how we became friends, when we started out hating each other's guts. I was older than him when I was turned, and still am. The memories flooded in my head, and Skyler listened to them.

**~Flashback~**

"_Kati, I have bad news." Daniel said, talking to me on the phone, "I don't know why, but Skyler…tried to commit suicide." The words came out like a punch in the face._

"What?_" I shouted, "Why the hell would he do that?"_

"_I don't know. But he broke a lot of bones jumping off a cliff." Daniel continued, "He might not make it."_

_I sighed. Right now, I was a newborn vampire. Just a few weeks old, but I had amazing control. Percy, my creator, continuously marveled at my control. Now I wondered what I should do. I didn't want Skyler to die, but could I stop myself from drinking up his blood and killing him? Either way, it was now or never. I was getting lonely, anyway. Of course, on my way to the hospital, Percy stopped me._

"_Just what do you think you are doing?" he snarled._

"_Nothing." I answered, baring my teeth._

"_If you're thinking about saving that _human,_ forget it. Even with your control, the taste of blood will be too much." Percy said mockingly, "You'll kill him."_

"_We'll see about that." I said. I lunged for his throat. He dodged, since he had much more experience and skill than me. But I was stronger. He was too old. I managed to pin him down and rip his head off. It was like tearing paper. Percy was dead in less than five minutes._

_I kept going. It only took me two minutes to reach the hospital. Luckily, the window wasn't locked. I stood over Skyler's pained face. Then, I leaned down and bit his neck. He was in too much pain already to scream. But I couldn't stop myself. His blood was just _so_ good! Tastiest blood I've ever had. Then a nurse walked in. That made me stop and kill her. Her blood wasn't as tasty, but at least it stopped me from sucking Sky dry. I carried him to the mountains. The transformation took three days, and boy they were the most annoying days of my life. All he did was scream, which really annoyed me. And it was especially unbearable considering vampires' extreme sense of hearing. Try listening to very loud, high-pitched rings, and you'll have an idea of what I mean._

**~End Flashback~**

"Um, I don't think it's very nice of you to criticize me for screaming. You screamed too, according to Richard and Lassen." Skyler said.

We made it to Oregon by nightfall and stopped to hunt. We were in Forks, Washington by morning. The place was cloudy, of course. Every speck of blue sky was covered by fluffy gray clouds. _Good._ We won't have to hide from the stinkin' sun all the time.

Skyler and I ran through the forest. Then we heard some rustling and stopped. Right then a giant pure-black wolf jumped out at us and tried to knock Skyler down. He, of course, read the thing's mind and side-stepped it. More wolves gathered around us in a circle.

"What are these?" I hissed.

"Shapeshifters." Skyler answered curtly, "Look, we're just here to visit the Cullens." The wolves seemed to understand. They relaxed a little, but still bared their teeth. Skyler looked at the black one who just attacked him. "We'll hunt out of your territory, Sam. We're just visiting Carlisle and his family." The wolf-who's name must have been Sam-stretched his eyes wide. He then turned and gestured behind him.

"He'll take us to them." Skyler said. We followed them. I was counting on Skyler in case they were planning something. They stopped at the edge of the woods, where a gray wolf howled. A golden-eyed man opened the door. Edward, I think, though I've never actually seen him before. Of course, I'd heard about the whole Volturi and Renesmee conflict. It spread like wildfire over the vampire world.

"You may leave now." he said to the shapeshifters. Slowly, they faded into the forest.

"Do we know you?" Edward asked when the last of the shapeshifters had disappeared.

"Carlisle does." I answered. A second later, Carlisle was on the porch.

"Kate. Skyler." he said, "It's been so long."

"Indeed it has." I said. Carlisle invited us in, where we met Bella and Renesmee, who was now fully grown.

"So this is the hybrid." Skyler said, giving Renesmee a quick look head-to-foot and deciding she was too nice to hang out with.

"Carlisle, who are they?" a blonde-haired statuesque girl asked. She must've been beautiful as a human.

"Let us introduce ourselves." Skyler said. "I guess you already know my name. Skyler. This is Katrina, but you should probably call her Kate or Kati."

Suddenly, a very short girl with spiky black hair danced into the room. I swear, she must've been eighteen when she was turned, but she was as small as a ten-year-old. She said, "Carlisle, I have something to tell you." in a serious voice.

"Yes, Alice. What is it?" Carlisle inquired.

"The Volturi are coming." Alice choked out. My eyes stretched slightly. _The Volturi_?Seriously? Ugh! That's who I've been avoiding my entire life. In fact, they probably don't even know Skyler, Lassen, and I existed. If they did, they would hunt us down. "They're checking up on Renesmee. To see if she's able to coexist with humans without raising suspicion." Alice continued.

"How many?" Bella asked, worried.

"Just two. But…they sent Jane and Alec." Edward's eyes looked like they'd pop out of his head. "Them?" he said.

"Oh, no." Bella groaned. I wondered why, but then Skyler touched my finger, sending his thoughts into my head. _Jane hates Bella._ Hm, I've never met them. Actually, I've never met the Volturi. Ever. And I didn't want to. I was starting to think maybe we should come back some other time.


	2. The Devil's Angel

_"A poem begins with a lump in the throat; a homesickness or a lovesickness. It is a reaching-out towards expression; an effort to find fulfillment. A complete poem is one where the emotion has found its thought and the thought has found its words" _-Robert Frost

**~Alec's POV~**

Aro had just called Jane and I to the throne room. I wondered what mission he was going to send us on now. Whatever it was, I just wanted to get it over with. I am NOT in a good mood. Not since that Cullen girl blocked my gift.I was the first one there. Of course. Jane appeared shortly after. I could tell she was in a better mood than I was, even though she had a scowl on her face. That was the difference between us. Jane's emotions were visible directly on her face. I, on the other hand, kept mine locked up. Sometimes I wrote them in a journal. Right now, I was on my fifth one. Yes, I had a lot of problems in me.

"Jane. Alec." Aro said, clasping his hands together. "I have a very important mission for you. I know you don't like the Cullens, but I need you to go to Forks to check up on Renesmee. It's been ten years, so she should be fully grown by now. I want you to decide whether or not she should be allowed to live." I knew the intentions under his simple words. He wanted us to find a reason to kill her. _My pleasure_.

"That is all." Aro dismissed us. I walked back to my room. Jane followed me. Once we were inside, and the door was tightly shut, Jane punched the wall. Nice.

"Ugh!" she growled, "I hate that shield-face and her stupid _unnatural_ daughter!" I, of course, remained calm even though I hated her too.

"I know." I said, "That's why we have to figure out a reason why she should die."

"Here's one." Jane hissed, "She's unnatural. You're either a vampire or not. No in-between. Why does she exist anyway? It's just not _possible._" I listened quietly to her rant on and on. When she finally finished, she went back to her own room while I laid on my bed and contemplated how to survive the next few weeks with vegetarians and werewo-I mean shapeshifters. I decided to write everything down in my journal. So I reached under my pillow(I don't even know why we had beds. Vampires don't even sleep!) and pulled out a black-cover journal and a mechanical pencil. They were so much better than regular ones because you only needed to replace the lead. Sharpening so often was annoying. I spent the night wondering what the Cullens would smell like hanging around with shapeshifters all day.

During that time, a silver bracelet slipped out of my pencil(it was wrapped around it). I stared at it for a few hours. It was Katherine's. I knew her in my human life. She was pretty, smart, and everything a guy would want in a girl. She was my first kiss too. Too bad she died. When the humans tried to burn Jane and I at the stake for being involved in witchcraft(stupid humans), the Volturi stepped in. They killed everyone, including Katherine. Yes, I kept thinking about her even though it's been three hundred years. I don't know why, I just can't get her out of my head. She came up with my name, actually. In my human life, I was Alexander Proctar. Jane was Mary Jane Proctar. Katherine didn't like the name Alexander so much, and she kept calling me a smart Alec. Then just Alec. Eventually, the name stuck.

* * *

Today, we set off and reached Forks in just two days. The reason it took so long was because Jane wanted to get there "late" 'cause she didn't want to see Bella or her "demon child."

Of course, the wolves tried to attack us the moment we set foot in Forks. I guess they were still angry from the time we invaded their territory and tried to kill Renesmee. But then the black one growled an order and they stopped. One of the larger wolves shape shifted back to their human form.

"Hello. The Cullen warned us you'd be coming." he said. _Alice._ Of course. "Come."

The Cullens' house reeked of wolf-stench. Carlisle was the first to greet us. He showed us our rooms and wondered if we minded sharing with a couple of guests.

"What guests?" Jane asked.

"Us, of course." said a melodious voice with finer sound than a violin playing Pachelbal's Canon. Jane and I looked over to see a girl about our age walk up to us. She was wearing a black trench coat, dark denim jeans, black converse shoes, and a burgundy shirt that matched her eyes. Her hair was long and straight with spiky tips. Her eyes round like Jane's and framed with lashes. Her lips were full and red, and her skin as pale as moonlight. In short, she looked like the Devil's angel.

And she was glaring at us with bared teeth.

A boy about her age but at least three inches taller dashed to her side. His hair was a dark, blood-like red, just like his eyes. He looked like he always wore a serious expression on his face, and he was lean. Like he was built for speed.

"Hello." I faked a smile, "I'm Alec. This is my sister Jane."

"Nice to meet you." the girl said. Almost simultaneously, they closed the two yards separating us in a fraction of a second. "I'm Kate. And this is Skyler." she said as she scanned me and Jane quickly. I could tell she didn't like us. Or at least, Jane, whom she shot death glares at. I was almost going to hiss at her, but something about her stopped me. For some reason, she looked hauntingly familiar. Had I met her before? No, probably not. My vampire mind would've recognized her instantly. Maybe it was because she had the same name as that Denali girl.

Wait, what am I kidding? They don't even look alike! Sometimes I wish I could take aspirin. Jane didn't like teh girl, I knew. Skyler, either. Apparently, she didn't like anyone except our leaders and me. Whatever. Like it matters. I just couldn't stop thinking about that girl.

* * *

**A/N: Second chapter! Thanks to Shadow2446, xxBoyMeetsGirlxx, Volturi Princess, and HermioneandMarcus for reviewing, and yes, I will upload more chapters soon. And in my opinion, Alec does have a lot of problems.**

**People are asking about Kate's gift, and it will be explained in later chapters, so just be patient.**


	3. Twenty Questions

_"Hatred is a storm that cannot stop until it has finished its course"_ -Me

**~Jane~**

I hated Kate from the moment I saw her. Everything about her screamed "PERFECT." Her shining black hair. Her glowing eyes. Her clothes. And her pale snowy skin. Even her voice was beautiful for a vampire. In other words, I absolutely hated her.

And I hated the fact that for some reason, Alec couldn't stop staring at her. I really wanted to tell him, "What do you think you're doing?" but instead I just settled for stepping on his foot. Instantly, he snapped out of it and sat on the couch. I sat down next to him. The rest of the Cullens left the room.

"Jane, I have to ask you something." Alec whispered. Apparently, he didn't want anyone else to hear us.

"Yes, Alec?" I asked.

"D-do you think Kate and Skyler are mates?" he asked.

"Why do you want to know?" I hissed. Seriously, what does it matter if they are mates or not? Why should he care?

"Just curious…" my brother answered. "But do you?"

"I don't know." I said. It seemed like they were, but they could be just close friends. Beside me, Alec sighed and got up to walk out of the room. I heard him ask the same question to Edward. Apparently, we were the only people in the house, so he just had to talk a little lower but didn't have to whisper. A moment later, he came back.

"Well?" I said.

"He said they weren't." Alec sighed, almost relieved. Usually, I knew exactly what my twin was saying. But now, I wasn't so sure. Why did he care? And being relieved that they weren't mates? It was almost as if he liked her. But that couldn't be true, 'cause that might mean he was over Katherine, which might be a good thing. After all the years of him moping over how he wasn't going to see her again, it would be nice if he met someone else. I couldn't even remember what Katherine looked like. It was so long ago. But I knew she was pretty. That much was certain. And if Kate could make him happy, then it'd be worth dealing with her for the rest of my life.

I got up and walked over to my "room." Third door on the right upstairs, Carlisle said. I opened it just to find Katrina sitting on the bed. Great. I decided to take this opportunity to find out a bit about her.

"Mind if I sit here?" I said. I sat down, not bothering to wait for an answer. "Want to play a game?"

"Depends." Kate answered curtly, "What do you have in mind?" she said, leaning back on her pillow.

"20 Questions." I said, "I'll go first. What do you think of my brother and I?"

"Uh, your brother's that Alec guy, right?" she said. I nodded. Kate considered for a bit before answering, "Well, you look…small. And you two don't look that much alike. I think you're pretty sadist. And so's Alec, but he seems more…quiet. And he doesn't talk a lot. And he looks familiar."

"Long answer." I said.

"Yeah. Anyway, how old are you two?"

"Three hundred and five." I said. "We were turned when we were fifteen."

"Uh-huh." Kate said. "So I guess I'm older than you." I spread my eyes wide. "What? Really?" I said, not even trying to sound interested, "How old are you?"

"Seven hundred and eighty-six. Skyler and I were turned when we were fifteen, too." That was older than Carlisle. Before America was discovered.

"How is it that I've never heard of you then?" I asked. If she was as old as she said, then I would have heard of her.

"I don't know." Kate shrugged. She glanced over at the door. Someone knocked on it. "Come in." she said. The red-haired boy from before, Skyler, walked in, each step he made graceful and nonchalant.

"There's not a lot of tasty humans here." he said, "It's a shame. California was so much better."

"Yes." Kate said, agreeing, "Maybe it's the weather." Skyler nodded and sat in a spinning chair opposite of the two girls.

"So, what're you two talking about?" he asked casually while spinning.

"Oh, like you don't already know." Kate answered, chuckling. _Well, duh._ He probably heard us talking since we were speaking at human conversation level. But right after my thought, Skyler burst out laughing. Kate silenced him with a glare.

"So, where's your brother, Jane?" Skyler said, leaning back on the chair and crossing his arms behind his head, "I thought you two would be like this." he twisted two fingers together.

"Even twins need time alone." I muttered.

Skyler nodded, "Yeah. Right, Kate?" he added, chuckling. Suddenly, he froze, his eyes as distant as the sun. "Uh, I think someone's coming. That short girl had a vision."

"About what?" Kate asked.

"She'll tell you." Skyler answered, not paying much attention. A few seconds later, Alice told everyone to come to the living room**. **

* * *

**A/N: I think this is my shortest chapter yet. Not much to say, just thanks for taking the time to read these notes and I'll post the next chapter soon.**


	4. Future Visitor

_"Dreams are like stars; you may never touch them, but if you follow them they will lead you to your destiny"  
_-Unknown

**~Skyler~**

The whole "family" and visitors gathered in the living room in a second. Some had just come back from hunting. The scent of disgusting animal blood was still on them. One time, I drank animal blood for a week on a dare. Let's just say, I prefer human.

Mates were, of course, being all romantic and everything. It looked weird. The only ones not leaning their head to someone else was me-and I wasn't looking for a mate anytime soon, Kate-though she could probably have anyone she wanted, Renesmee-her werewolf mate Jacob was out on patrol or something, Jane-I pity the fool who falls for her, and Alec-who was still mourning over some girl.

Edward was glancing at me. Of course. Because of my apparently "powerful gift" I could block other vampires from reading my mind. Must drive him crazy. But I could read everyone else's mind clearly. Except for Bella. Since technically her gift was mental, I could penetrate it, but since her gift blocks mental gifts, I had to work a little harder. Now, I wonder if Kate's gift would work on her. I _know_ she's been dying to try it out. But then Alice spoke.

"There's…someone coming." she said, uncertain.

"Well, who?" Alec asked. I could tell he didn't care unless that person had a powerful gift that could be useful to the Volturi. And, he did.

"I don't know." Alice said, "I've never seen him before. He's just a little shorter than Skyler. He looks about fifteen. And his face is very pale. His hair is brown, like a slightly darker milk-chocolate."

Right next to me, Kate erupted into a fit. "That little no good-" she stopped suddenly as twelve sets of red eyes bore down on her.

"Do you know him?" Carlisle asked.

"Yes." she answered. "And you do too. Remember Lassen?" Carlisle gasped at this.

"Who's he?" Renesmee asked.

"My jerk of a twin brother." Kate said curtly.

"You have a twin?" Rosalie asked. Really, she was thinking _Oh, great. Is it enough to have one vampire prettier than me?_ I laughed at that, which probably wasn't such a good idea with eleven vampires who don't know what you can do in the room, too.

"What's so funny?" Rosalie asked me, annoyance very visible in her voice.

"Oh, nothing." I answered.

"Bella." Edward whispered to his mate, "Do you happen to be shielding him?" he nodded towards me. Bella looked surprised at his words. "No, of course not." she said. Edward was startled.

"Do you happen to have a gift, Skyler?" he asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"Really?" Alec asked, "What is it? Some kind of shield?"

"I guess you could say that." I said. I really didn't want to explain what my gift was, but maybe I could just erase their minds so they wouldn't tell Aro, their leader.

"Well?" Rosalie said, "Care to elaborate?"

"Fine." I said, "But only if Kate tells her gift first." Kate sent me a death glare, along with some very, _very_ mean thoughts. But I willed her to give in, even though she'll know what I did and I will probably be missing an arm for a while. Oh, well. I'll find it. I always do, no matter where she hides it.

"Fine." she said, "First. Skyler, I hate you." she stepped on my foot, then continued, "Secondly, if you two witch twins"-Jane growled at that; Alec just looked amused- "tell or even _think _it to any member of the Volturi, I will personally rip you both apart slowly and painfully."-Jane scoffed at that. She thought she was invincible. Alec seemed emotionless to what she said- "Okay. I actually love my gift. It's very special to me."

"Hmph! It's like you think your gift is worth it." Jane snarled.

Kate glared at Jane, and in that moment it looks like she was actually smaller than she was. Like she was a negligent peasant in a queen's path. I could tell Jane was frightened by her, but refuses to show it. Kate said, "There's a reason for that. The Volturi are nothing but Aro's pawns. They do nothing but follow the orders of a manipulative, twisted being." Couldn't say I disagreed. "If you told him what my gift was, I'll bet you he will want me in your foolish guard immediately. I can absorb the qualities of another person."

* * *

**A/N: Due to multiple requests asking me to update, I did. Happy, people? I'm glad you like my story.**


	5. Peace and Quiet

**~Alec~**

I didn't really understand what she was saying, about absorbing qualities of another person. But before I could ask, she was talking again.

"If you don't know what I mean," she said, "It's like, I can absorb people's personality, thoughts, memories, anything with just a touch. I can even absorb vampire gifts. That's the best part."

Of course, everyone but Skyler stared open-mouth and wide-eyed at this. I must have too. _Absorbing vampire gifts?_ That would be such a useful ability. Much better than Jane's, even better than Bella's. Which led to me thinking, _Could she absorb Bella's gift?_ No doubt Aro would want her in the Volturi. He would even give up Felix and Afton for it, as long as she took Afton's gift first.

"You mean, if you just shook hands with us or something, you'd have our gift?" Renesmee said, "But I high-fived you just this afternoon!"

"Right." Kate said. She walked up to Renesmee and touched her shoulder. Instantly, her eyes went blank. Then, after a few seconds, she finally pulled away.

"Wow." Renesmee gasped, "So that's how it feels like to other people. Boy, Charlie must have had a heart attack."

"You showed your gift to _Charlie?_" Bella said.

"I'm sorry! He wanted to know some stuff, and…"

"Wait, wait." I said. "Who's Charlie?" Didn't sound like a vampire or shapeshifter I knew.

"Uh, it's not important right now." Edward said nervously. The look in his eyes gave it away.

"You told a _human_ about the existence of vampires?" I shouted, "How dare you break _another_ rule!" I grabbed Jane and pulled her close.

"Technically, we didn't tell him." Edward said calmly, "He doesn't know anything about vampires."

"But that thing"-Jane nodded to Renesmee- "showed her gift to him."

"Don't worry." Skyler said. "I'll take care of that." Bella snarled, "You'll never get him!" Skyler just laughed. He seemed to do that a lot, I guess. "No, not that." he chuckled, "I meant I could just erase his memory of that."

"You can do that?" Renesmee gasped, wide-eyed.

"Of course. It's part of my gift." Skyler shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal. "I can control the mind. I can read them, erase memories, make someone remember something, and influence anyone I want."

"Incredible." Carlisle said, "It's almost like a much, much more advanced version of Edward's gift." Again, Skyler just shrugged. Did he even care that he had a powerful gift?

_No. Not at all._

The voice came unexpectedly. It was almost frightening. The thing that freaked me out the most was that Skyler was grinning at me.

_I can show other's my thoughts._

I sighed in realization. Now that made sense. I looked over at the clock in front of me. Five o'clock and forty-eight seconds.

_I have a question though. It's about that girl you knew…Katherine, was it? Now I want you to tell me what she looks like. _Why? I asked. She's dead. _How do you know? Maybe she's alive after all._ Suddenly, I was engulfed with memories, like I was watching a slideshow of my life. I saw Jane and I as five-year-olds, chasing a lost dog. Then I was twelve and my dad was berating me for not being like other kids. For being weird. Finally, the scene focused on me at age fourteen.

_I was climbing a tree. Why? Because a very beautiful, expensive-looking necklace Jane wanted was on one of the branches. I'd say I was thirty feet up in the air. I unhooked the golden pendant and wrapped it around my hand. But as I was coming down, some crows started jabbing at my back. I lost my grip and fell, landing with a thud as agonizing pain sprinted up my leg. Jane ran up to me, but I was too busy clutching my leg._

"_Brother!" she gasped, "What's wrong?"_

"_My leg!" I yelled. It was late and most people were in their homes. We were in a forest surrounding the small village we lived in. No one could hear us._

_I just wanted the pain to end. Snow was starting to fall, and it was already covering me even though Jane kept trying to brush the flakes off. I could feel a tear-probably Jane's-on my shoulder. They were warm against the freezing cold winds._

"_Hello, child." a musical voice called. I barely opened my eyes, and still I thought I was in Heaven. I must have been, because I was seeing an angel. Long wavy black hair rested on her shoulders and back. Black eyes stared at me sympathetically. And her skin was as pale as the snow that fell around her._

"_Wh-who are y-you?" Jane asked, shaking from the cold._

"_Come." the girl said. I was lifted by cool arms. I guess on the way, I fell asleep because when I opened my eyes, I was in a small cabin, lying next to a warm fireplace._

"_Where am I?" I groaned sleepily. A chuckle sounded from behind me._

"_Well, hello." the girl from before said. I tried to get up, but my leg was as stiff as a tree trunk. I looked down to see someone had put a cast on it._

"_You won't be able to put weight on that leg for a while." she said, "It broke when you fell from that tree."_

"_Oh." I said. Dad wasn't going to be happy about that. "By the way, who are you?"_

"_Call me Katherine."_

"_Nice to meet you." I said. I don't know why I was smiling so much when I said that. "I'm Alexander."_

"_Hm." Katherine said, "My apologies, but I don't really like that name."_

"_Oh." I don't know why I was sad about that, either. "But you shouldn't judge a person based on their name. After all, I didn't pick my name. My father did."_

"_Well, aren't you such a smart Alec?" Katherine chuckled. "I think I'll call you Alec. It fits you so well." And there came my new name._

"_By the way, your sister Mary Jane would like to see you." she continued, "I'll tell your parents what happened."_

"_That won't be necessary." I said._

"_Don't worry about it." Katherine said. Then she leaned down and kissed me. It was a short kiss, but it still sent shivers up my spine. Whether that was because her lips were cold or not, I don't know._

_Later, Katherine and Jane helped me walk back home. Dad was mad at me for busting up my leg, but Katherine explained it to him. "It seems your son has hurt his leg." she said gently, "He needs to stay off it for at least six weeks. And he should get plenty of rest."_

"_Oh, no. I'm afraid he has much to do." Dad said, almost like he was sorry to tell Katherine that, "And paying you for his healing will-" Katherine held a hand up to silence him._

"_Don't worry." she said, "I won't charge you. Actually, I think it's quite chivalrous of Alec to climb that tree just to find my necklace and bring it back to me. I'm sorry he got injured." Dad's face brightened. Now let's just say, my father was a very cheap man._

"_Ah, yes. Well, farewell." he said. Jane started to help me to the house, but Katherine held up a hand._

_"Don't worry. I'll do it." she said, "And I must talk to your brother privately." Jane looked worried, but nodded and left. Katherine turned to me._

_"You're a very special boy, Alec." she said. The words surprised me. I'd been called a witch, a child, and a middle-classman, but never special._

_"I'm what?" was all I could stutter out._

_"You have potential." I wanted to ask her what she meant, but she held up a hand and took a silvery bracelet from it. This girl was rich, I knew that. She grabbed my hand and placed the bracelet in it._

_"Wha-?" I asked, but Katherine stopped me. "Keep it." she said. During the whole conversation, she was walking me towards my house. She said goodbye and walked off. I never got to see her after that. A year later, Jane and I were dragged into the middle of the village by witch hunters. I was afraid, even though I knew this would happen sooner or later. I just always hoped it'd be later. Or at least, that Jane would be spared._

_The humans tied Jane and I to wooden crosses and lit up the wood piled on the ground. The fire licked at the soles of my feet. I looked at Jane. Her sky blue eyes were full of terror. She screamed at least twice as much as I did, cursing and screaming that we didn't deserve this. That she wanted them to feel the pain she's felt each day. I, on the other hand, tried to stay as calm as possible. _Just don't think about the pain, Alec. It'll be over soon._ I tried to assure myself as much as I can, but the fire tore at me feet.__ Then more screams filled the air as figures in black cloaks surrounded the villagers. The last thing I saw as a human was the look of terror in my mother's eyes as one of them grabbed her._

I gasped as the memories stopped abruptly. _Well, that's all I need to know._ Skyler thought harshly. I was too appalled to speak.

"Alec, what are you doing?" Jane asked. I glanced over at the clock. Five pm and fifty two seconds. The whole thing took only four seconds.

"Nothing." I whispered before I left the room while Renesmee was talking. Explaining to her parents what exactly she showed Charlie.

I walked up to my room and plopped down on the bed. A moment later, Kate walked in and sat next to me.

"What do you want?" I growled. Okay, it probably wasn't nice of me to do that, but she hated me. I wasn't about to be nice to her.

"I'm bored." she said. "And I have the feeling Skyler used his gift on you."

"Yeah, he did." I said. "He wanted to know about some girl."

"Hm. That's weird." Kate said emotionlessly, "But then again, all you boys are. Guess that's what happens when you're stuck in a teenage boy's body for eternity." I glared at her, but she just glared back with those eyes of hers. They were a vivid vampire burgundy. The long lashes that surrounded them only made them seem more frightening. Anyone could see she was the opposite of Renesmee, who was always preppy. Renesmee disgusted me. She had parents who cared about her, a mate(even if it was a wolf), a family, and friends. She acted like she didn't have a care in the world. And what did I get? No mate(and I don't want one), an uncaring dad(who died), a nice mom(who also died), no real family(except for Jane). Nothing but the Volturi. Sure, they were technically my friends _and _family, but that was only because Aro saved Jane and I from the stake. I didn't even get along with most of them.

I wrote all of my thoughts into my journal, which was filling up pretty fast. I was going to need a new one soon.

"Wow, you have a lot of problems." My head snapped up and I closed my journal quickly. How could I forget that Kate was sitting right next to me?

"Too late." she said coldly, "I already saw everything." she smiled. It wasn't comforting or anything. It looked like the smile Jane had before she tortured someone.

"Will you stop doing that?" I asked annoyingly. Her smile turned into a deathly frown.

"Doing what?" she growled.

"That look of yours." I said, "It's like you expect everyone to be afraid of you." Kate gave me a disapproving look before leaving.

Finally, peace and quiet.

* * *

**A/N: This chapter is long. Aw, cute memory, Alec. I am constantly changing the orders of the chapters. This used to have a different ending, but I wanna save that part for later.**


	6. Making Friends and Enemies

_"Knowledge is neither good or evil. It's the person that makes it so"_ -Unknown

**~Katrina~**

So after three days at the Cullen house, I was sure of a few(actually, many) things:

1. Jane is a sadist, petulant demon who's only hobby is torturing others. It amuses me

2. Alec is her quiet but jerk of a brother

3. Renesmee is nice and optimistic; in other words, ugh but surprisingly fun to hang out with

4. Skyler has gone crazy from all the mushiness and niceness of the Cullens

5. Bella hates my guts and I hate hers, too

6. Alice is fun to hang out with even though we have completely different styles

7. Rosalie and Emmett kiss _way_ too often for their own good

8. I think my brain is about to explode from not being able to hunt any humans-no matter how tasty-within a sixty-mile radius

9. I'm loving all the gifts for the taking. It's like Christmas!

And 10. Human blood is definitely _way_ better than animal blood. Period.

It's easy to see why I hate Jane. My loathing of Bella, on the other hand, takes time to understand. Kind of. She was perfect. Great gift, immortality, a mate, a best friend, friends in general, a family, a home, and a child all within two months of her transformation. And what did I have? A jerk-faced brother, a few friends, a best friend(Skyler), and beauty. No mate, no family, no home. Why does everything happen to me?

_Hey. There are vampires who don't have anything when they turn. And you have your gift._ Skyler spoke in my mind._ Do you know how many vampires would kill to have a gift like yours?_ I thought the words _GET THE HECK OUT OF MY HEAD!_ loudly, and after a while, he did. Now there was something else I couldn't have: Skyler's gift.

_It's more of a curse._ Skyler thought. I glared at him, and he shut up. Now, forgive me if I can't see the bad part of being able to read minds from a distance and actually manipulate them. Sure, there was that headache thing, but he barely got them.

And the reason I couldn't have his gift? I don't know. It has something to do with him just blocking me out whenever I try to take it. I don't know what the big point was. He would still have his gift, but I could use it too. But at least I got Jane's, Alec's, Jasper's, Alice's, Renesmee's, and Bella's. Mission Complete. But I couldn't get Edward's since he kept avoiding me so I couldn't get his gift. Were all mind-readers that way? And I guess Bella's gift has no effect on Skyler, because he can still read my mind. Something about Bella's gift making him want to invade her mind and it being easy to do so.

Oh, and about Bella hating me too. Well, I don't know why. Maybe it had something to do with me drinking human blood or my attitude or something. Either way, it didn't matter. And she was annoying and dramatic, anyway.

I sighed, taking a glass filled with blood to my lips. It tasted a little like salt, but I didn't care. I was too busy staring out the window to the stormy skies. They were the color of my eyes as a human. A bluish-gray, so full of color.

Someone snorted behind me, and I turned to see Bella standing a few meters behind me, a scowl on her face as she glanced at the blood-filled glass. I smirked, crimson eyes boring down on her.

"Why do you even drink human blood? It's cruel." she asked harshly, like she thought it would scare me. Obviously, it didn't. I was over seven hundred years old, for Pete's sake! Did she think I would cringe at the glare of a thirty-year old vegetarian idiot?

"How is it cruel?" I asked, taking her tone and making it over a thousand times more frightening. She flinched at my cruel yet melodious voice, as people described it.

"Because you used to be a human. It's like eating your own kind." Bella said, a little more frightened than frightening.

"It tastes better." I shrugged, "And animals are cute." Bella just scowled and left. I glared at her and crushed the glass in my hand. Glass shards fell to the floor, each glimmering as they reflected the light in the house. I would have to clean that later. I straightened out my red satin dress. A minute later Renesmee skipped up to me, singing in a high-enough voice to make opera singers jealous. She cringed at the smell of human blood.

"Uh, why is there broken glass on the floor?" she asked.

"Because _your _mother annoyed me." I said. Renesmee looked guilty. She opened her mouth(probably to apologize) but then her eyes stretched wide in terror. Suddenly, she shrieked beside me. I looked over annoyingly, because her regularly high soprano voice just got a million times higher. Bella and Edward were by her side in an instant.

"What did you do?" Bella shrieked at me. Edward ran his fingers through her dull brown hair, saying, "Katrina didn't do this." coldly.

"Then who did?" Bella asked when Renesmee had stopped screaming. A childish laugh sounded from behind them. I watched as her head snapped up at Jane. Bella screeched and pounced on her, but she stopped just a foot short. Jane and Bella stared at each other for a while with blank expressions on their faces.

"Skyler!" I groaned, "I really wanted to see that fight."

"Uh, huh." Skyler said dismissively while brushing red hair from his face. "Your welcome." he said to Alec and Edward.

"Maybe you should stop abusing your power." I said jokingly, "You know, a wise _boy_ once told me 'Using your gift instead of relying on skill will only make you weaker in the end.'"

Skyler narrowed his eyes at me, grinning. "I told you that." he said.

I smiled, "Then you should learn to follow your own advice."

"I will when you do." he snorted. Alec looked at us questioningly before shaking his head, muttering something about me being such a child. And sending mixed messages. Hm, I wonder why. If anyone had a split personality around here, it was Skyler. His emotions are "influenced" by those around him. A side-effect of the mind thing.

Now I was bored. So I just decided to go to Alec's room. The moment I entered, a sweet lemony scent washed over me. For some reason, vampires all had different smells. According to Skyler, I was sweet, sour, bitter, sunshiny, and rainy all at the same time. Whether that's a good thing or not, I'm not sure.

"Are you just going to stand there and stare all day?" Alec's harsh voice snapped me back to reality.

"Well, excuse me for being nice and actually talking to you." I snarled. _God, boys!_ Were they born dumber over the centuries?

"Right…" the Volturi guard said, "Why are you here?"

"Didn't I just answer that?"

"I need something more specific." Alec sighed. I closed the distance between us with a single bound. He was sitting up in an ordinary bed, glaring at me through crimson eyes. I sat down in front of him and rested my head on his lap. He just stood there like the frozen statue he was. People look weird upside-down, let me tell you. His dark chocolate bangs were all messed up and his face was calm. He had a journal in his hand, but closed it when he saw me trying to sneak a peek.

"Are you just going to stare at me all day?" Alec snarled. I rolled my eyes and sat up next to him.

"Shut up." I said plainly, "Why are you always mean to everyone except that demon sister of yours?"

"Don't you ever call her that!" Alec looked like he wanted to rip my head off, not that he could. "If anyone's the devil around here, it's you and that friend of yours." He was lucky I didn't beat him like a drum after that. I did, however, elbow him in the ribs. He didn't even move. Such an emotionless twit.

"I wouldn't mess with me or Skyler if I were you." I said coldly.

"Why? Because you have such incredible gifts?" Alec said sarcastically.

"This coming from one of the witch twins, who just love to see people in pain." I said. "Actually…" I had a great idea. It was time for Jane and Alec to have a taste of their own medicine. Venom welled in my mouth in anticipation. I turned to the little Volturi boy and instantly, he started hyperventilating. Images of pain and burning to death cloaked his mind. He fell to the floor, unable to move. I enjoyed seeing him like that, but then something made me stop. And I knew it wasn't Skyler's gift, because I would've known. His voice would've been in my head, making me stop. It was the pained expression on his face. One that I knew too well even though I've only seen it once in my life.

No way. No. I wrenched my thoughts from Alec lying on the floor and left through the window. I needed time to think. Already, I could hear Alec getting up and shaking his fragile little head.

I stayed at the edge of the cliff, gazing up at bright blue stars for hours it seemed. If Skyler wanted to, he could find me in an instant. We'd been traveling together for so long, he could find my mind anywhere, it seemed. Ah, Skyler. The insensitive boy who would always try to hide his face when he blushed, though obviously, he didn't do that now.

I probably would have stared at the glowing moon longer, but a howl sounded in the air. A screeching howl pierced the quiet air. I scanned the area, looking for maybe a shapeshifter or something, but I saw nothing. Then, using Alice's gift, I saw a giant russet-colored wolf sprint at me and managed to dodge just in time. The wolf crashed into a tree. _Yeah, nice one_. It shook it's head and glared at me. The wolf's eyes were red. Bones jutted out beneath it's pelt, like they would break the surface, and right then I knew this was no shapeshifter. _This_ was a cold-blooded, ruthless werewolf. One of the Children of the Moon.

I stood my ground, using Jane's gift on it as pained howls pierced the night sky. Suddenly, more wolves appeared. At first I thought they were the Children of the Moon, but one look at them told me they were shapeshifters.

I guess they knew this wasn't a friend, because they attacked it like crazy. And after that, one of them shifted into human form.

"Was that a werewolf?" he asked, stunned.

"Yep." I replied coolly, "A regular Children of the Moon." He gaped at the thing burning in a large bonfire.

"Oh, by the way." the shapeshifter said, "I'm Seth. And you are?"

"Kate." I said, brushing hair back from my face. I turned away from him and sprinted back to the Cullen house, where Jane was waiting…and snarling.

"How could you do this to my brother?" she basically screeched.

"Now, now. I think he deserved it for being such a jerk face." I answered coldly, even though I was feeling the exact opposite inside.

"You're going to be sorry." Jane said. I could see the corners of her mouth beginning to curl upwards, but before she could manage a smile, she was screaming in pain.

"How's it feel to have a taste of your own medicine?" I said. Skyler and Alec appeared at the door in an instant. Alec bent down to help his sister and Skyler tried to use his gift on me and make me stop. _NO._ I thought as I pushed him out of my mind and left him with a shock expression on his face.

"Just stop! Please!" Alec begged. I could see the worry in his eyes, but five more seconds passed before Jane stopped screaming.

"Maybe now you'll learn to be a little nicer." I said. Jane growled at me and left, her brother casting both angry and worried glances at me. Okay, angry I get. Worried? Not so much. What the heck was going on in his head?

* * *

**A/N: I think this is my longest chapter yet. I'm hungry. I really want some pizza. My shoulder hurts:(**

**Well, bye!**


	7. The Two Sides of Kate

"_By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest" _-Confucius

**~Skyler~**

I didn't realize I was staring out the window for two hours straight until Renesmee waved her hand in front of me and giggled.

"Are you okay?" she asked. I sighed, "I'm fine." Renesmee stared at me. She was wondering why I was staring out the window with a distant look in my eyes.

"Uh, do you know where Kate is?" she asked instead. I raised an eyebrow at her. She wanted to go shopping with her the next day.

"I don't know." I finally said, "Do you think I keep tabs on her? She's a free spirit, don't forget. It's hard for her to stay in one place for too long."

"Could she have left without you?" Renesmee asked, worry clinging to her thoughts. I shook my head no. She wouldn't have done that, I knew. Kate liked to drag me along with whatever she was doing, no matter how ridiculous it seemed to me. It was one of the scarce human traits that clung to her even after her transformation.

I sighed. Richard really missed Kate's human self. Sure, she was impulsive, rebellious, and did ridiculous things. But she was kind and creative, too. The kind who saw things in a different, more unique, way. Right now, she was much darker, and I'm not sure, but I think it's from her absorbing people's qualities. She might be absorbing the dark stuff, too. Nichole, a fairly young vampire we met about fifty years ago who could see people's auras said Kate's aura was always dark and fluctuating. She said it was a mix of colors and emotions and that I should keep an eye on her. Since I could actually _see_ what she saw, I followed her advice.

"Do you hear something?" Renesmee suddenly asked, staring out the window, "It sounds…different. I can tell it's a wolf, but it doesn't sound like anyone I know." I focused a little, trying to find what the hybrid was talking about. It took a while, but I located something weird. Bloodthirsty. For a moment I thought it was just a newborn vampire, but then I saw what it was stalking. _Kate._ I focused harder. I hated this part of my "gift." I couldn't tell what something was just from it's mind. I had to focus on speech or voice or something. This mind was familiar. It didn't take long for me to realize what it was.

I shot up, startling Renesmee by me.

"A werewolf!" I yelled.

"You mean, a shapeshifter?" Renesmee asked, confused.

"No." I breathed, "An actual Children of the Moon." Suddenly, I had about ten sets of vampire eyes on me.

"Where?" Edward snarled. I wasn't paying attention to him much: I was more focused on the fight between Kate and the werewolf. Then, I relaxed a little.

"Don't worry." I said, "Kate and the shapeshifters are dealing with it right now." Everyone relaxed at that. Rosalie was still confused.

"Wait." she said, "What are the Children of the Moon doing here?" I shrugged. _Who knows? _I thought to everyone. Their bodies tensed, all except for Edward, who was used to having other's thoughts in his head. _Most of them don't even know they're werewolves. Some could've just moved here from overseas._ I willed them to relax and waited for Kate to come back. A minute later, she did.

I was about to open the door, but Jane beat me to it. She practically ripped it off its hinges. She asked why Kate used her gift on Alec, and then Kate smiled. Jane screamed in pain, and as much as I liked seeing her get a taste of her own medicine, I tried to get her to stop because of Alec's emotions.

I tried to wrap around her mind and alter her thoughts, and for a while I think it worked. But then she used Bella's gift and tried to block me out. I still broke through, though. Then a black stone-cold wall wrapped around her and I couldn't break it. It was like a five-year-old human trying to push the entire Great Wall of China. I gasped, shocked. Never before had I felt so much like this. So weakened.

Alec started begging for Kate to stop. She did, and he and Jane walked away, Jane thinking she was going to get revenge and Alec slightly different thoughts. He was mad about what she did but also worried about something, though I couldn't point it out. Maybe he was wondering if she'd be a problem for the Volturi.

Either way, I ran through the forest. I liked hunting at night more than in the day since it's harder to get distracted. But the bad part was that I'd usually get much more scatter-brained because of the human's dreaming. Some dreams were interesting, some funny, but most were just boring or odd. It was easy getting lost in the sea of dreams I would never have again.

Something caught my eye. A teenage girl(about fifteen or sixteen) walked through the silent streets, her heels clanking against the sidewalk. Why she was out here so late, I don't know. But it's not like I'll find some other prey just walking about mindlessly this late at night, so I willed her to come into the forest. Apparently, she was walking home from a party(why the heck didn't she just get a ride?). Once she was in deep enough, I pounced. Her screams barely escaped her lips.

After that, I swept an arm over my mouth like I always did after feeding and walked back to the Cullens' house. Renesmee was asleep in bed, judging by her thoughts. Jacob was in a meeting with his and Sam's packs. I wondered if I should listen in, just for a while. I ended up doing just that.

"_Jacob, how long will the "visitors" be staying here?" Sam asked._

"_Not much longer, it seems. Kate doesn't get along well with those witch twins." Jacob answered in an Alpha voice._

"_Very well." Sam nodded._

"_Hey, what did I miss?" Seth asked._

"_Not much." Leah answered, "But do you have to start making friends with every vampire you meet?" she asked._

"_Well…she looked nice." Seth said. _I nearly burst out laughing. Kate? Nice? Obviously, he didn't know her like I did.

"_Seth, you are an idiot." Jacob responded._

Well, it was easy to see the conversation was going nowhere, so I instead focused my ability on Jane and Alec, who were out in a forest clearing talking to each other.

"Can you believe that girl?" Jane screeched.

"I know, Jane." Alec answered. Jane wanted to rip her head off. Alec was slightly mad but didn't really care. He was still mourning, but not so much now. He obviously liked Kate. It was written all over his mind. Whether Kate liked him back, though, was a completely different matter. Her thoughts were kept hidden, mostly. The most I could tell was that she felt an attachment to him and she was wondering if Alec was someone she'd met before. Jane was still rambling about Kate. But underneath all those…_inappropriate_ words, she was jealous of her. Jealous that Kate had a gift that made her own look like an amateur magic trick. I thought that was ridiculous. Kate's gift would be nothing without other vampires with gifts.

"Skyler, are you spying on people again?" Kate accused. I swung my head around. Kate's face was only inches from my own, her hands were on her hips. I chuckled(which usually made Kate calmer and more lighthearted) but she only got madder. Her mind was rimmed with dark emotions, and when I tried to clear them away, she threw me across the room.

"Ow!" I said as my head banged on the corner of a table. Kate laughed: it held no wickedness, only a child's humor. She grabbed my hand and helped me up. Then she brushed my shoulders like nothing had ever happened.

"Skyler, you are so clumsy." she giggled, "Uh, why are you staring at me like that?" she asked. I realized I was staring at her with a confused face. I'm starting to think Kate has a personality disorder. She looked over my shoulder, and I turned back to see Jane and Alec staring at us; their faces were confused, too, wondering why Kate had done thrown me against the wall.

Then Kate did something else that surprised us all. She walked right up to Jane and Alec and asked them if they wanted to hang out with her and Renesmee tonight. Alec looked at his sister, who shrugged. He nodded, implying they'd both be there. Kate smiled-and I mean actually smiled, no anger whatsoever-and hugged Alec. He didn't push her back or anything, he just stood there, confused while Jane growled. After the hug, Alec pretended like he didn't like it, but I could read his thoughts. I knew he was straight-out lying.

"So, I guess we're all going to hang out tonight." she said when she walked back to me.

"_We're_?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. I didn't like where this was going. Kate smiled wide.

"Yep. 'Cause you're going, too!" she cheered. Then she reached into her black punk-style book bag and pulled out some expensive sunglasses and tossed them to me. No doubt these were to hide my red irises.

"Uh, wouldn't people think it's weird for us to wear sunglasses at night?" I asked.

"Well, it's either that or itchy contacts." Kate responded. Ooh, people thinking I'm weird vs. itchy eyes. I think I'll go with the sunglasses.

As Kate walked away, I sat on the couch with my hand supporting my head and my elbow on my knee, wondering what was up with Kate's mood-swing today. She seemed more like her old self yet totally different all in the span of five minutes. Kate sat next to me, wearing dark denim jeans and a black-and-white bar tank top.

"This song's great!" she said to me, "Wanna listen?" she pulled out one of her ear buds and offered it to me. _Why not?_ I thought as I took it. The song was "Brick by Boring Brick" by a band called Paramore. Of course. It was one of her favorite bands. I actually liked the song. It was like the dark side of _Alice in Wonderland._

" I like the part from Verse 2 to the last chorus the best." she said. She started singing along to the song in that melodious alternative rock-ish voice of hers. It sounded like a mix of Hayley Williams, Lacey Mosley, and Avril Lavigne. I laughed. At least Kate was starting to act like her old self again. I just hoped it would last.

* * *

**A/N: My shoulder all better now. Thank you, Shadow2446. I'm already working on the next chapter, so it should be up on Saturday or maybe sooner.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Paramore or any other singer I've mentioned in this chapter. I don't own the song "Brick by Boring Brick" either.**


	8. Truth or Dare

_"A kiss is a lovely trick, designed by nature, to stop words when speech becomes superfluous"  
_-Ingrid Bergmen

**~Katrina~**

Well, Skyler's been acting weird. Somehow, I have the feeling he's keeping tabs on me. Why? Just because I gave the witch twins a taste of their own medicine? They deserved it, anyway. Seriously, do you see me announcing _my_ gift to the whole world and torturing people with it? Do you see me using my gift to control people? No, you don't. Ugh, I don't even know why I decided to invite them to come hang out with me, Renesmee, and Sky.

Oh, well. I guess I have to deal with them-and by that, I don't mean _kill_ them. Don't think that's what I meant like Skyler did. I swear, one outburst and he suddenly thinks I'm the devil.

_You know, you really shouldn't be thinking about me when I'm in the room._ Oh, just shut up, Skyler! _It's really hard to just ignore your thoughts. They're particularly loud._ Well, then go hunt or something! You know I have personal space issues. _Those aren't the only issues you have._ Really, Sky. Really?

Skyler left after that, mumbling something about needing to hunt. Bella looked at him in disgust, since he had just fed less than a day ago. Who knew someone who fed so much could be as skinny as a stick?

_Don't call me that. You know I hate it._ Ugh, I just can't seem to get rid of him. I tapped my finger on my chin. Who do I talk to now? Renesmee is out with Jacob, Alice is hunting(hey, maybe she and Sky will run into each other), and I'm definitely _not_ talking to Bella, Edward, Rosalie(who apparently thinks I'm a show-off, according to Sky), Jasper(no offense. He's just so tense, and those vampire bite scars creep me out), or Emmett. And I especially don't want to see those Witch Twins.

I just settled for listening to my mp3 for an hour. Apparently, Bella doesn't like alternative, country pop, or metal, because she asked me impolitely to turn it off. I swear, it's like she's poisoning her daughter's brain.

I can kind of get alternative and metal-kind of-but how could she hate Country pop? It's Taylor Swift, for heaven's sake! How is that inappropriate? Vampire mothers! They're stranger than vampire boys.

Skyler was back at six, so he, me, Renesmee, and Jane and Alec(I was kind of hoping they wouldn't show up) hit the movies and then went to a teen club to dish out some tasty humans. Using Percy's gift, I knew no humans had "potential"(AKA a unique vampire gift) so they were all fair game. I danced with Sky for a while(if I was just standing there, it would look weirder than wearing sunglasses) and got some dirty looks from girls. Even though I had absolutely no romantic feelings for Skyler, I still smiled smugly at the glaring humans, just to get on their nerves.

Eventually, we all found someone tasty(except for Renesmee, since she was a vegetarian). Before we went back to Carlisle's place, Skyler gave us a little "mind guard" as he called it. It meant that whenever Renesmee or anyone else thought of that night in the club, a mind reader(like Edward) would instead think we watched a movie or two and then us _full_-vampires went hunting. We knew Bella would never approve of her _precious_ daughter going to a club, even if all the drinks were sodas and there were no drunk guys, so Skyler and I thought of the idea. Of course, we told it to everyone so that if Edward ever asked, they wouldn't spill the beans.

* * *

It was ten o'clock when we got back. Skyler had a minor headache, and he decided to tell the Cullens it was because Jane's contacts had dissolved before we reached the house and a few people saw, so he erased their minds of it to protect the vampire secret. Of course, there was no way to suspect he was lying, and probably would've smiled at him.

Let's just say, Bella didn't hate or like Skyler, but she tolerated him more than me. I don't know why, she just did. Maybe it had something to do with him stopping me from showing Renesmee this punk-rock band.

Since it was Winter break, Renesmee could stay up as long as she liked. Actually, she could go several days without sleeping now. The "adults" were off visiting the Denali Coven, and would be back in a few hours. Jane and Alec went hunting for the third time in three hundred years(the Volturi must be _so_ proud) and Skyler, Renesmee, and I played Truth or Dare. Skyler suggested it, then basically cheated the whole time, since he could "persuade" us(or rather, Renesmee) to pick which option he wanted, and he made the truths and dares we asked him not as bad(or embarrassing) as Renesmee's and mine(slightly). I suggested stopping and Skyler said right after his turn. Then he picked me.

"Truth or Dare?" he asked. I sighed, "Dare." I could just imagine the things he'd get me to admit if I picked truth. His hard expression turned into a wide smirk. "Alright, I dare you to kiss the next person who comes into this room." I glared at him with eyes like liquid rubies.

I was sure this wasn't a good idea, since 1. I really didn't want to do this, 2. What if the next person is a girl?, and 3. Most Cullens had mates, and I didn't want to start a cat fight. Then, the door handle turned. It wasn't locked since, well, vampires don't sleep so there's no need for that security check.

The handled turned slowly as to not rip it off its hinges. It creaked slightly as it opened. My nervous thoughts turned into death threats against a certain red-haired bratty boy. Then that certain red-haired brat grinned, and Renesmee stared wide-eyed at the brown-haired boy standing in the doorway, and giggled. I glared at her, and she pursed her lips.

Well, better get this over with.

Alec stood for a moment in the living room as his sister sprinted off to her(our) room. I got up from my cross-legged sitting position and walked up to him. He glared at me with a frown on his lips as I walked to him. Then his expression changed into surprise when I wrapped my arms around his smooth, pale neck and brought my lips against his. I heard Skyler thought "10 seconds" in my head and counted down from that.

At first it was just me kissing him, but then he did something that surprised me. Alec wrapped his arms around my back and pulled me in tight. I didn't want this to end: I wanted to stay in his arms for eternity. But, unfortunately, it ended in only twenty seconds.

_Guess I was right all along._ Skyler thought. I turned to glare at him before turning back to that Witch Twin I hated yet loved so much. How is it possible to feel both at once?

Alec looked at me with a wide expression on his face. I unwrapped his hands from my waist and pulled him out the door into the dark forest. We didn't say a thing to each other the whole time. He followed me without hesitation, a distant look on his face. Finally, we stopped in a daisy-covered clearing in the middle of the forest. I turned to face him.

"Look, Alec, I-" I started to explain that the kiss wasn't my intention, that it was all a big mistake, but he grabbed my face in his hands and kissed me again. When he pulled away, there was no doubt he enjoyed it just as much as I did.

"Why did you do that?" I asked dazedly. Alec just smiled, "Because I'm tired of pretending I hate you." he said as he kissed my jaw and neck repeatedly. I decided to just let him settle his urges; after all, who was I to let three hundred years of teenage hormones build up?

It lasted for at least five minutes: five dazzling minutes of him kissing me and me smiling and taking it. It probably would've lasted longer, except I realized something and pushed him away with a gasp.

"Why did you do that?" Alec asked, confusion filling his burgundy eyes.

"Jane." I breathed, "She'll kill me-or at least, torture me forever-if she finds out." Alec's face fell at this realization.

"You're right." Alec breathed into my ear as a hand cradled the opposite side of my face, "Then let's make sure she doesn't find out." I smirked at his suggestion, "Alec Volturi, you'd actually go behind your sister's back for me?" I teased.

"If it'll keep you safe." Alec murmured, his face just an inch from mine. I smiled, and this time, I was the one to kiss him.

* * *

We tried our best to disguise each others scents before we walked back(separately) to the house. I'm sure Jane(and even Edward) wouldn't realize a thing unless Alec thought about it. Skyler and Renesmee knew already, of course. Well, Skyler did. Renesmee could've just assumed we went out to yell at each other or something.

When I got to the house, I told Skyler to keep his trap shut. Probably not nice, but effective. He nodded. _So, how was he?_ I wrinkled my nose in disgust at what he was suggesting. Then I glared at him so he'd stop, but he just grinned.

* * *

The next few days, Alec and I avoided each other as much as possible. We also "fought" every once in a while to make sure everyone thought we hated each other. Then, at night Alec would meet me in the forest in a different spot each time and we'd get lost in each other. And each time, Jane didn't suspect a thing.

One night, out in the forest, I asked him a question.

"What happens when you have to go back to Italy?" considered this for a while.

"I hadn't thought about that." he said, "I wish I could bring you back with me." he added sullenly as he kissed my forehead. I was about three-quarters of a head shorter than him.

"You know I don't want to be a part of the Volturi." I whispered, resting my head on Alec's shoulder.

"I know." Alec murmured. His hands were wrapped around me as he held me close.

"You know, it's weird." I said to lighten the mood, "We haven't come across one of those La Push shapeshifters since we started meeting here."

"That's true." Alec said, "Do you think they know?" I shook my head. Skyler would've told me. "We would've scented them." I said instead. Alec nodded. It was hard to see someone who was so confident, who killed vampires on the Volturi's orders being so nice and loving.

I was glad Skyler dared me to kiss him.

* * *

**A/N: Well, I updated just like I said I would. They're finally together. Thanks people for reading these author's notes. Oh, and I put in some physical descriptions, just because.**

**Physical Descriptions:**

**Katrina- Long, silky raven-black hair with spiky tips, wide burgundy eyes with long lashes(silver with blue tinge as a human), pale snowy skin, and a childish heart-shaped face with curves. Really, she looks "full of contradictions." Even her naturally straight hair curls up when it's wet(mine does, too).**

**Skyler- Pale, celtic skin with shoulder length burgundy hair and lean, with intense eyes. He's pretty tall for his age(five foot six since I think people were shorter 700 hundred years ago right?) and had gray eyes as a human that tinted different colors a lot. He looks older than he was when he was turned.**

**Richard(he'll be in some later chapters)- Black hair tied loosely, ruby eyes(dark blue as a human), pale skin that's darker than Kate's, gentle eyes and five foot eleven.**

**Melina- pronounced Mel-lihn-ah, has a pale, always happy childish face(even though she's twenty-one), round crimson eyes, and bright red hair the color of pumpkins. She's five foot six.**

**Lassen- Black-and-brown hair(the colors alternate in thin strips) that are a little long and end in spiked tips, slightly narrower frightening burgundy eyes(silver with blue tinge as a human, looked like storm clouds) that looked reptilian, medium-length dark brown lashes, and slightly taller than Kate(he's five foot four) and looks a lot like her with the same childish face but with broader shoulders.**

**Percy-Sandy blonde hair cropped short, vivid ruby eyes(brown as a human), looks twenty eight years old, hard expression and always has a smirk on his face.**

**Nicole- Long, wavy golden blonde hair, rose-colored eyes(hazel as a human), a chalky complexion, and a heart-shaped face, five feet tall, changed when she was thirteen by Lassen for unknown reasons.**


	9. Close Calls

_"I myself am made entirely of flaws, stitched together with good intentions"_ -Unknown

**~Alec~**

I didn't realize how much I loved Kate until she kissed me that night. Before, I thought she was a spoiled, bratty, rebellious girl with so many problems you couldn't count them. I still kind of think she's just that. But even then, she was beautiful, smart, and knew what she wanted. Kate was the kind of girl who didn't let anything get in her way.

When I turned, I swore I would never fall in love. Right now, I want to take that back. Kate was just too likeable. I don't think even Jane could ever fully hate her. But I had to act like I hated her, because of Jane, and because it looked like she hated me, too. Three hundred years of practice acting, of being nice to guests I hated finally put to work.

That's why I couldn't believe it when she kissed me.

I knew I should've pulled away, but she had really soft lips. I kissed her back. Then she pulled me into the forest.

We've met nearly every night since then. And each time was always as great as-if not better than-the first. There was no other girl like her. And I've met a lot of girls. Humans and vampires alike. But I never paid any attention to them, even as a human. Sometimes, I doubted if I'd ever find anyone. I hated seeing couples. Vampires who found their mates. And I especially hated seeing Chelsea and Afton, who were always together. They were so lost in each other's eyes, I don't think they even noticed what it felt like for everyone else, watching them, not knowing what it felt like to find their other half.

That's why I was so glad I found Kate. I hoped Jane would never find out, because I would still like both of them in one piece. And if they fought, I wouldn't know who's side to be on. It'd be like being torn apart.

_**This is why I don't like couples, either.**_Skyler's voice said in my head. This is annoying. _**And so are couples**__._ _Stop_. _**It's hard to when your thoughts are so emotional**__._ I groaned. It was hard imagining Kate dealing with this and not going crazy.

_**How do you know?**__How do I know what? __**That Kate's not going crazy, or at least, close to that. **__What do you mean?_ Loving Kate meant being worried about her and her health, mental included. _**She threw me against a table.**__I thought that was because you two had a fight.__** No, not really. I tried to calm her down but she only got angrier. Just keep an eye on her.**__ Alright. __**And did you just say you **_**loved**_** her?**_ I swear I could feel my heart beat rapidly. _No, of course not!_ _**Sure…**_

It was midnight. I walked into the forest and reached a collection of rocks. They were large and smooth, with black surfaces reflecting the moon's glow. The sky above was an endless black cloak, stars like shimmering rhinestones dotted it as the moon glowed with the sun's light.

I sat on a glossy rock and looked up at the glowing moon. It reminded me of Kate. Her pale glowing face always looked bathed in moonlight. Kate was full of contradictions. Pale face against pure black hair; red eyes and lips, so full of color against a colorless face. A childish face with womanly curves. Even her personality looked split. She was rude to Jane and hated Bella(but who could blame her?) and yet she was nice enough to help Renesmee.

A rustling by a bush disrupted my thoughts. I smiled as Kate walked out of the trees with enough grace to make Alice jealous. She leaped onto the rock I was sitting on and I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her in close. She rested her heart-shaped face on my shoulder and I kissed her silky hair softly. She smiled, kissing my lips.

I felt bad about keeping this a secret from Jane. We were twins, after all. We shouldn't keep secrets from each other. I sighed, tightening my hold on Kate. Now I guess I knew how Edward felt, kind of. We both had someone we loved, and a problem. He couldn't be with Bella because she was human, and I couldn't be with Kate publicly because she hated the Volturi and because Jane wouldn't approve. When did life get so complicated?

"You never did answer my question." Kate said suddenly.

"What question?" I asked teasingly.

"What will happen when you have to go back to Italy?" Kate whispered, burying her face in my expensive dark gray suit.

"I don't know." I sighed. Aro would probably accept Kate right away, so that wasn't a problem. The problem consisted in Jane's dislike of Kate, and Kate's dislike of the Volturi. If I didn't have Jane, I would've left the Volturi to be with Kate. But Jane was too loyal to Aro for saving her. There was no way she would leave.

"I don't get why you won't just leave the Volturi." Kate muttered.

"I have to be with Jane. She's my sister." I answered, "I can't just abandon her."

"You two are so close, I'm jealous." Kate said wistfully, "Lassen would never do that for me. He doesn't care about anyone. We haven't even seen each other in nearly a hundred years."

"Really?" I asked, surprised, "A hundred years?" Kate nodded, "But he's visiting now, according to Alice. I wonder why. He never does anything without a reason."

"He sounds strategic." I said.

"He is." Kate answered, "Lassen's the kind of guy who'll kill anyone if it's beneficial to him. He'll betray anyone just as quickly as a human changes emotions." I frowned. Lassen sounded a little too much like Caius. Maybe worse. I don't think I'd want to meet him anytime soon.

"You know his name's not really Lassen?" Kate smiled.

"Really? I thought plenty of parents named their kids Lassen." I said jokingly. Kate laughed, "No, his name is Hadrian Kristopher Verunique. Mine's Karena Airica Verunique." Kate said. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion.

"I thought you said your name was Katrina." I said.

"Well, my birth name was Karena." Kate explained, "But I like going by pseudonyms a lot. Most of them have the same meaning, though. Katrina and Karena both mean 'pure.' And I like the nickname Kate better than Kari or Kara." I nodded. Kate explained more about her past, "Skyler, Lassen, and I are all Scandinavian, though we don't really look the part. Well, except for the skin and eyes. And don't give me all that 'Vikings are from Scandinavia' crap, or I'll slap you until you go crazy." I chuckled, pulling Kate in even closer so her hair brushed my lips.

"Lassen just likes using that name." Kate continued, "He doesn't like his name. Never did. But our parents refused to call him anything but Hadrian. He didn't think he could trust anyone except me and maybe Skyler, so he started practicing some 'dark magic' he learned from a traveler." Kate shook her head as if to clear away sullen thoughts. I nuzzled her, and she laid a hand on my chest, her head half-way between my shoulder and chest. "They caught him, and took me by association. Locked us in a tower, they did. Can you believe it?" Kate was nearly screaming now, and I peppered her with kisses to calm her down. "A tower! How idiotic. Then Percy came in and changed us. Did you know he was the one who changed Aro, Marcus, and Caius?"

"Really? Whatever happened to him?" I asked.

"I killed him because he wouldn't let me turn Skyler." Kate answered, folding her legs across my lap. "Granted, if he knew Skyler would have such a powerful gift, he would've." I nodded.

"How long are you staying here for?" Kate asked, changing the subject.

"A month." I answered. "And ten days have passed. That means I only have three more weeks with you."

"Better make them last." Kate said. I chuckled, pulling Kate in closer so her full, blood-red lips were less than an inch from mine. We kissed for a long time. Much longer than any human could. Her lips tasted bitter and sweet, sour and dry, lemony and cherry-like, all at the same time.

* * *

At two o'clock, Kate went hunting as I walked back to the Cullens' house. Renesmee still hadn't done anything that could let us kill her. The only thing we could use was the fact that her skin glowed and she couldn't vibrate her voice, no matter how hard she tried. I really, really wanted Renesmee dead, because if she hadn't been born, the Cullens wouldn't have gathered all those vampires, Bella wouldn't have learned how to control her gift, and Jane and I wouldn't have our gifts fail.

But, on the other hand, if Renesmee hadn't been born, I might've never met Kate. So I guess there's one thing I have to be grateful for. Still, I wanted that hybrid dead and burned to ashes. A snarl ripped from the kitchen. _Did Edward just growl at me?_ Skyler chuckled for the umpteenth time and I wondered if this was a recurring thing with him.

I looked around for Jane, eventually finding her outside torturing a blue jay. Hm, that's strange. She usually tortured larger animals. Eventually, she let the poor thing go and moved on to a flame-colored tabby cat with wide green eyes. My eyes pulled wide in shock. Not because Jane was torturing yet another defenseless animal. No, it was because I had a _very_ real fear of cats.

Don't laugh. I got scratched(practically mauled) by a feral cat when I was still a kid, and when you're four and a half years old, a cat might as well be a tiger. I'm more of a dog person––not including werewolves or shapeshifters.

Jane noticed me and turned around, her raccoon-ish red eyes staring up at me. I noticed that her long blonde hair was laying down, not in a tight bun like usual. The cat she was torturing made a screeching sound and sprinted over into the streets.

"Hello, Alec." Jane said with a smile. "Jane." I returned it.

"Find anything on _that_?" Jane whispered, disgust evident in her voice. I didn't need to ask to know she was talking about the hybrid. Ever since coming back to the castle, my twin had barely said the name _Renesmee_. She treated it like it was taboo and instead referred to her as either a "hybrid" or simply "that."

I shook my head no, and Jane's shoulders sagged, her neutral expression changing into an obvious frown. Jane sat on the porch, resting her head on her palm and her elbow on her thigh, her face sullen and malicious.

I sat down by her, leaning my head back so my dark brown hair fell from my face, eyes staring out into the sky. I turned my head a few degrees, catching sight of Kate leaning against a fence with Skyler by her side. Kate was rolling her eyes at something Skyler said, listening to "All Around Me" by Flyleaf. I personally didn't really like or hate that band. I'm more of a classical person, as most vampires were in the Volturi.

Jane turned her head and followed my gaze. Her expression changed once again into utter bitterness. I didn't know why Jane didn't like Kate or Skyler. They seemed fine to me. The only things I could think of that would make Jane hate Kate was her gift, and the time when Kate tortured both of us. She'd apologized to me, of course, but Jane didn't know that.

Her dislike for Skyler, though, was probably for his gift and mere association, and the fact that Jane hated a full ninety-eight percent of the vampire world. The only exceptions were me and Aro, who saved us.

Kate turned to us, making a disgusted face at Jane and passing a barely noticeable knowing glance at me. I suppressed the urge to smile. Then the two resumed their conversation, which had something to do with Lassen. He was due to come in less than two days.

Jane walked out into the forest, and I followed her. She didn't stop once, dodging through the undergrowth like it was a negligent obstacle. Finally, she stopped at the edge of a clearing, right by some pitch black rocks. I froze. This was where Kate and I had met the night before. Did Jane know our secret?

"Come, Alec." she said, "Let's sit." I shook my head, "Maybe somewhere else. Those rocks look…uncomforta-ble." That was a lie. I knew for a fact that they were smooth and better to sit on than a velvet chair. But Jane wouldn't take no for an answer. She grabbed my hand and basically threw me against the rocks. I sighed and sat on a small one, right on the edge of the cluster, as far away from where Kate and I had met as possible. Jane snatched my hand and pulled me to the exact spot we'd been. I held my breath––the scent was faint, but detectable.

Jane clutched my hand and said, "Lovely rocks, aren't they. Very glossy. Oh, look! Some vampires' scents are on these. They are an awful lot like yours and that devil's, now, aren't they?" I nearly flinched at the word "devil's." Venom swelled inside my mouth, and I swallowed it, the burning sting seeping down my throat. Jane knew, or at least suspected, what was happening. I searched for a way to get out of this.

"We were having a fight." I said, "Right by those rocks." Jane lifted an eyebrow, "And you were practically sitting right next to each other at the time?" she asked, unconvinced.

"Yes, of course." I said, trying to sound like I was angry at her accusation. Jane narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing me thoroughly. Only then did she relax her gaze.

"All right." she said, "It makes sense you two would throw a couple of punches at each other." I nodded, saying, "Yes. We barely even went near each other. Most of this is overlapping scents." Jane smiled, "Fine."

We walked out of the forest, talking about what could be happening in Volterra right now. Inside, every part of me breathed a sigh of relief. Jane didn't know.

Or, my heart lurched, was she just pretending like she didn't know anything? Either way, it was wise to warn Kate. I thought in my head, _Jane almost caught us today. Tell Kate we need to be more careful!_ loudly and over and over again until Skyler sent me a _**Got it.**_ and Kate gave me a very, very slight nod.

* * *

**A/N: Haven't updated in almost a week. Here you go, people. From now on, I'm gonna make Skyler's little mental messages in bold italic, okay?**

**Thanks juliest et tisbe, xXMizz Alec VolturiXx, HermioneandMarcus, Vampiry Me, ariavolturi, Shadow2446, and PrincessSunshine1 for favorites.**

**Thanks HermioneandMarcus and Volturi Princess for alerts, too.**


	10. Suspicions

_"War is the science of destruction"_ -John Abbott

**~Jane~**

When I caught Kate's scent mingled with my brother's, I nearly lost it. _Kate? With Alec?_ It was lucky they were just fighting, and not…the other stuff. I really didn't want Kate as a sister-in-law. She tortured us! Alec would be a fool if he felt an attachment to her after that.

I went about with business as usual. Winter break was almost over, so the Hybrid would soon be going back to school. It was nearly time to see if she could interact with humans in their environment. I hoped she wouldn't live up to the "challenge." I would love to see that sorry excuse for a vampire burn to ashes, the flames licking up her stupid salty tears.

Edward growled at me for the umpteenth time since I've been here. _Well, if you don't like my thoughts, stay out of my head! Falling for a _human!_ That's the most foolish thing I've ever seen._ Edward snarled and Alec, my loyal brother, was right by my side in an instant, snarling at Edward.

"Control your thoughts, Jane." Bella hissed. And her maiden name was "Swan." Well, she was an ugly duckling, I'll give her that. Her problem was that she stayed that way, and never actually became a swan, even as a vampire.

Edward hissed at me. I pulled my lips back into a smile. Bella may think she's invincible because of her shield, but she would be foolish to underestimate the power of the Volturi, and especially of the Witch Twins. We didn't keep up our status as the most powerful coven in existence by playing nice.

Eventually, Alice came to their rescue. She told Isabella about her and Esme going shopping, and of course Little Miss Shield For A Face couldn't say no to precious little Alice, who was eighteen and even shorter than me.

"The nerve of that shield." I mumbled as soon as they had all left.

"I know." Alec snorted, "They think they're invincible just because of _her._" I nodded, running out of the house to hunt. I was going to be so glad to be back in Volterra, where Heidi can hunt for us.

I ran into Skyler on my way back to the Cullen house. We didn't acknowledge each other. That Skyler. I hated him as much as I hated Kate. Why? Because they hated the Volturi, they had powerful gifts, Kate tortured us, and because I simply hated them.

* * *

Back at the Cullen house, the Hybrid was eating cookies. Yucky, disgusting chocolate chip cookies. Just looking at the stuff made me want to hurl. Kate was sitting next to her, explaining to a werewolf(I know Aro expects us to call them "Shapeshifters," but I won't) what origin she was from.

"Okay, for the last time," she said angrily, "My brother and I are one-half Scandinavian, one-quarter Italian, and one-quarter British. Our father was half Scandinavian, half British, and our mother was half Scandinavian and half Italian." The werewolf nodded. "Skyler is half Scandinavian and half Irish. Get it now?"

"Yep." the werewolf nodded, "I get it." Kate sighed, relieved, "Finally." Wait, did I just see Alec roll his eyes and smirk? Playfully? I wanted to ask him why, but for some reason I felt like it was just my imagination. There was a feeling in my head, telling me that I should just let it go. I couldn't fight the feeling. The voice in my head was too strong. It felt better to just obey it without question.

I turned my gaze to Skyler, lying down on a sofa with his eyes closed and a hand resting next to his dark scarlet hair. He looked peaceful, except for the fact that his eyebrows were creased into a V-shape.

"Headache?" Kate asked, turning to him. Skyler gave a slight nod, and Kate walked over to sit on the sofa's cushiony arm, right next to Skyler's head. She rested the palm of her hand across her companion's forehead, and his expression relaxed slightly.

"Does that happen often?" the Hybrid asked, finally finished with that disgusting cookie.

"Not really." Kate answered. I noticed a slight British-Scandinavian accent in her voice, which wouldn't have been noticeable to anyone who wasn't looking for it. "But when he does get one, have a vampire rest their hand on his forehead. It helps. But they should try to not think much. You know, control their thoughts. I have to drop Bella's shield whenever I do this from now on. It…aggravates him." The Hybrid nodded just as Bella entered the room. She cast a confused glance at Kate's hand resting on Skyler, who's jaw clenched when she came in.

"Bella?" Kate asked curtly, with a tinge of rudeness in her voice, "Would you mind leaving the room? Skyler has a headache and your shield is only making it worse." She obviously wasn't going to act friendly to her new friend's mother.

"Of course." Bella answered, trying to imitate Kate's tone but failing miserably. She turned around abruptly and dashed out of the room, long colorless brown hair flailing behind her.

Kate scoffed, "Idiot." Skyler smirked slightly, saying, "She's…nervous around you." Kate arched a delicate eyebrow at his words. "Our gifts, they make her worry. Her shield does nothing against my gift, besides making my headache worse, and she has no idea what gifts you've absorbed, so she doesn't know if she can shield against them." I noticed his accent was more British than I would've thought, seeing as he was apparently Scandinavian and Irish.

"Well, it still doesn't give her permission to act so snotty." Kate snarled slightly, "Did you hear her tone? She was imitating me!" Kate's eyes blazed angrily and Skyler's smirked shifted into a frown.

"Shh, shh." he shushed gently, "She's just jealous. She can't hate you: you're her daughter's friend." he said, trying to calm her down. Kate relaxed a little, lifting her hand up from where it lay and strolling towards the cluster of rooms upstairs.

Skyler shifted so that he was now sitting up straight. His eyes turned their crimson gaze towards the Hybrid's violin case.

"You play the violin?" he asked. The hybrid nodded. She skipped over joyfully to the glossy black case and opened it up to reveal a full-sized violin resting on dark blue fabric. The Hybrid picked up the instrument and attached the shoulder rest.

"Can you play one?" she asked. Skyler nodded, "Kate made me learn how. She's pretty convincing, you know." The Hybrid giggled, "Yeah. She made me learn Pachelbel's Canon simply because she liked the song. She's right. It's beautiful." Skyler nodded, picking up the violin and playing Pachelbel's Canon perfectly, "And it's the only song I _can_ play." he said. I rolled my eyes and left the room, Alec trailing behind me.

"That disgusting piece of garbage!" I hissed.

"Skyler, Renesmee, or the violin?" Alec joked. I glared at him. When was he this happy? Usually, Alec just pretended around others, but we were alone, by the edge of the Cullens' backyard. He didn't need to act.

"What has you in such a good mood?" I demanded.

"Nothing." he answered, the normal uncaring tone in his voice once again.

"Alright." I said, "Well, the Hybrid's got to hurry up and do something that'll let me kill her! I'm tired of waiting!" I plopped down on the short, lush green grass and folded my arms across my chest.

"I know, Jane." my twin said. I narrowed my eyes at him, smiling, "Of course you do."

We talked for the longest time since we've been here. I wondered what Alec was doing when I wasn't around, and he said he just read a book or something, although there was an edge of secrecy and reluctance in his voice. Alec was never too good at keeping secrets, and I knew that whatever was on his mind would get back to me soon. After all, we were twins. We had been close for too long. Three hundred years. Alec would never keep secrets from his own sister, now would he?

"I'm going to hunt." I said, getting up to leave.

"Would you like me to accompany you?" Alec asked.

"No thanks." I answered, "You can just go do whatever it is that you do." My brother seemed reluctant at first, but nodded and walked back to the house.

* * *

I did hunt, in fact. But I was on some other private mission. I scoured the forest for any traces of Kate's scent that could be mingled with Alec's, that would prove once and for all if he was indeed keeping secrets from me. So far, I had no luck. The closest I had been was those rocks, but it wasn't rock-hard evidence. I needed something better.

I searched for a full hour to no avail. I walked back to the Cullens' house slowly, pondering if my brother really was telling the truth or not. I had no real reason to doubt him, after all.

I sighed, reaching the house and running into Skyler again on the last time, we didn't acknowledge each other. I assumed he was just going hunting. His eyes were looking a bit dark.

When I stepped inside the house, I immediately looked around for Alec. He was nowhere in sight. I walked in the direction of my "room" on the second floor, right by my brother's. Along the way, though, I stopped. A mixture of scents lingered near my destination. It was familiar, and anger built up in me as I recognized the scent. My brother's mixed with Kate's.

I eavesdropped on the room next to mine, but gave up after I heard nothing. I tried to tell myself that everyone had walked by here a lot, and that it was just overlapping scents. But unfortunately, teenagers are much too curious for our own good. I laid my hand on the door handle so quietly not even I noticed a sound, and very, very slowly, I turned it.

What I saw inside made a piercing hiss escape my lips before I could stop it. Kate was in the room with Alec, who had his arms around her, holding her close. Too close. They both turned when they heard me, my brother's eyes widening in shock and fear. I glared at the both of them for a fraction of a second before I lunged.

**

* * *

****A/N: Hello people. As you can plainly see, Jane has found out Kate and Alec's secret, so next chapter might involve potential violence. Poor Alec, he's stuck in the middle. The reason why Jane was having that little voice in her head that prevented her from asking Alec something was because Skyler was using his gift on her, which gave him a minor headache.**

**Next chapter will be up soon 'cause I hate cliff-hangers just as much as you probably do.**

**I forgot to put a disclaimer in the last chapter, so no I don't own Flyleaf.**


	11. Alec in the Middle

_"Time is short for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity" _-Unknown

**~Alec~**

"Come on, Alec." Kate said, pulling me into my "room." "Jane's out hunting. It's not going to be safe for us to meet in the forest anymore." I nodded, following her without hesitation. We sat on my unneeded bed and I wrapped my arms around her.

"You do know Jane's going to figure this out eventually, right?" Kate murmured. I nodded, "I just hope she gives me enough time to explain this."

"You think you'll have a tough time? Lassen's going to be furious." Kate retorted playfully. I chuckled once, pressing my lips to Kate's. She laced her fingers through my hair while my arms were wrapped around the small of her back.

Jane barged in right then. Kate and I whipped around in synchronization. My eyes spread wide in surprise and fear at my sister's ferocious expression.

"Jane, I-" I couldn't even finish my sentence, because Jane lunged at us right away. I pulled Kate out of the way, her fingers locked onto my expensive coal gray suit. Jane snarled, leaping at Kate, who threw Jane against a wall before I restrained her. She hissed, wrenching herself out of my grip and pouncing on Jane.

"NO!" I yelled, trying to get in between them. Jane tossed me out of the way before raking her nails down Kate's arm. Kate glared, snatching my sister's arm and tossing her around. It was obvious that Kate was going to win. She had more experience. Jane had never had to fight in her entire life.

I felt torn. Literally torn between the two fighting right in front of me right now. Fighting _because of me._ I should've known Jane was going to figure this out eventually, but I'd always thought that I could figure out how to prevent them from fighting before then. Now I was stuck in the middle. I couldn't help one without angering the other.

Kate flung Jane against a beaten wall. Jane recovered, pouncing on Kate, who didn't so much as move. I looked confusedly at her, because I thought she'd just dodge my twin. Jane didn't notice her hesitation, and when she was an inch from Kate, she was flung across the room. I stared, shocked as water formed a tentacle-like shape and wrapped around Jane.

"Just something I got from Benjamin." Kate said simply before turning the water into ice. Jane broke free fairly easily, slightly drenched sitting next to a bunch of cords, all damaged because of the fight. Kate smiled, a remote grasped in her hand. and Jane screamed as electricity hit her. I gasped, understanding what she'd done. Water conducted electricity. Jane had failed to notice her drenched clothing and the power cords before it was too late. A slightly smoky scent filled the air, and Jane looked deathly angry.

Jane and Kate fought for a few minutes, clawing and flinging each other everywhere. And shouting inappropriate insults at each other. I swear, I must've learned ten new cuss words these last five minutes. So far, they had broken the night table, a wall(yes, an entire wall), the lamp, a closet door, and ripped up a few pillows. I had tried to intervene so many times I lost count. And each time, it was no use. Edward had come in two minutes into the fight, but even he couldn't withstand the force of two angry teenage vampire girls.

"What happened here?" he asked. Then, reading my thoughts his eyes widened in shock, "You? And Kate? Really? And Jane found out. This is-" a pillow went flying at his head. Then the fighting stopped. I made a questioning look, before Skyler walked into the room, looking very out of breath for a vampire.

"Sixty miles in eight minutes." he gasped, "Heh. I think that's a record." I stared at him, stunned because I didn't know a vampire could actually be out of breath. He glanced around a bit, then rested his eyes on the broken table for a long second, "Shame. I liked that table." Then he glared at both Kate and Jane, growling slightly, "Now what happened here?"

Both girls hissed at him in unison, not taking their hateful eyes off of each other. I wondered why they suddenly stopped, but then I remembered. Skyler's gift let him control people's actions, or at least influence them. Maybe he could get them to talk it out, and I won't have to live through anything like that ever again.

"Now, will you two cooperate?" Edward asked. His question was met by hisses of protest. The rest of the Cullens had come back, all gaping at the sight of the mess in the room. Edward explained everything to them, and they all gasped at what he said.

Edward and Jacob moved to restrain Kate, who put up a lot of protests. It was only when I stood in front of her and held her face in my hands did she stop. Jane hissed, trying unsuccessfully to escape from Jasper and Emmett's grip. I turned to her, eyes looking as apologetic as possible. She turned away from me, giving up her useless protests.

"Now, you two _will_ talk this out, and you _will _learn to get along, got it?" Skyler growled through gritted teeth, looking much more frightening than he ever had before. Kate scoffed, "Jane can't be reasoned with. All she cares about is herself!" She was struggling again, using every gift up her sleeve to try to get at Jane. Most failed, since Bella had her shield around both of them. Heh, finally the Cullen girl does something useful. Edward glared at me, but I was too preoccupied to care.

"I can't believe you!" Jane shouted at me, "How could you actually _like_ her! She tortured us! She used my own gift against me!"

"Jane, sister, I'm happy." I muttered, "Happier than I've ever been." Jane stared at me like I was crazy. But I must have sounded sincere, because Bella, Alice, and the hybrid all looked at me with something like pity. I made a sour face at them, because I hated when anyone ever looked at me like that. Jane calmed down a bit, looking uneasy now.

"Brother, she hates the Volturi!" she said, "What are you going to do? She'll never join us. Your time with her is limited."

"I know." I said. It was a major concern, one that didn't have an answer yet. Bitter feelings boiled up in me, but I suppressed them. Getting Jane and Kate to be nice was a more pressing matter.

"Jane, you're afraid of losing your brother." Skyler said simply. Jane hissed, but the red-head didn't even seem to notice. "And Kate, you just don't like Jane." Kate rolled her eyes at him like what he just said was the most obvious thing ever, and it probably was. Even I resisted the urge to act childish and say "Well, duh!"

"Okay, then I guess I'll have to play the negotiator." Skyler said simply, "Jane, just because your brother is attracted to Kate doesn't mean he won't still be your brother. He cares about you both equally. Trust me, I would know." Then he turned to Kate, "And Kate, can't you just _try_ to get along with Jane? For Alec?" Kate snorted, glaring at Skyler with dagger-like eyes. Once again, Skyler didn't even acknowledge it.

"It's not going to be that simple." I said, unable to keep the sullenness from my voice, "I've come to know both of these girls, and one thing they have in common is they don't like to just give up." Skyler nodded, "Yes, that's true. But what other way is there, besides picking one and leaving the other?" Those words seemed to stab my cold heart like a knife run through a human. I'd never do that! Never!

_**Relax. I never said you would. I'm just saying, is all.**_ I didn't react shocked like I normally would, being used to this now. I looked over at Jane pleadingly, "Try to get along. Please?" She glared at me but gave a slight nod. Kate kissed my cheek in agreement. I smiled, happy to have the two reach an agreement.

"Aw, how romantic!" Renesmee murmured, "Like Romeo and Juliet." Kate glared at her, "Uh, you know that in the play, both of those characters died? And, technically it's called _The __**Tragedy** __of Romeo and Juliet_." Renesmee seemed to shrink, suddenly sorry she had talked. Bella glowered at Kate, and I snarled at the Cullen in response.

"Great. You're all done, I guess." Bella hissed, "Now what about the room? It's ruined!"

"Seriously, Isabella?" Skyler rolled his eyes, "There was a catfight here, and you're worried about the _room_?" Bella hissed at him, but Skyler's gaze held her down, "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you _wouldn't_ want your daughter to see Jane's entrails scattered across the floor." Bella snarled at him and his sarcastic tone. Renesmee just looked horrified. Jane hissed at Skyler's hidden accusation that she was going to lose if she fought Kate.

"Relax, all of you." Carlisle said, speaking for the first time, "Bella, it is only a room. It can be repaired. And Skyler, thank you for settling this." Skyler nodded, and Bella glanced at her father-in-law before nodding and stepping back.

"Uh, why don't we leave these three alone?" Alice suggested. In just a second, everyone had filed out of the room, leaving me with a Volturi guard and a cunning strategist.

No one said a thing for a long time. Jane and Kate were leaning against opposite sides of the room, glaring at each other. I was, of course, stuck in the middle, staring at the floor, unmoving, feeling absolutely terrible. And angry at myself for feeling terrible. I was Alec Volturi! A prized member of the guard and one of the most powerful vampires in the world!

"Alec, I have to ask you something." Jane said, keeping her eyes lowered.

"Yes, sister?" I asked, hopeful.

"Why are you so infatuated with that girl? What makes you like her so much that you'd lie to your own sister?" Jane wondered.

"Jane, I couldn't tell you everything if I tried." I said, taking Kate's hand and leading her to a small sofa, stroking her hair as we sat down, "She's smart, outgoing, strong, and she doesn't give up."

"Is that it?" Jane arched an eyebrow.

"No. I told you, I couldn't tell you everything I love about her if I tried." I answered, pressing Kate to my chest.

"Did you just say you _loved _her?" Jane asked, startled. I opened my eyes in shock. First Skyler, now Jane? Why did I keep saying that? I instantly shook my head once. Kate smirked, pressing her lips to mine. Jane rolled her eyes, a disgusted expression on her face.

"What exactly have you two been doing?" she asked.

"That's none of your business, sister." I growled slightly.

"Of course it is. I _am_ your sister, as you mentioned." Jane hissed. I glared at her. No way was I going to tell her what I'd been doing with Kate these last few days. Kate shifted so that her legs lay on top of my lap and her hand caressed my neck. Jane wrinkled her nose, "I will leave you two to your business." Half a second later, the door slammed shut.

"I knew we couldn't keep this up for long." Kate said, burying her face in my suit. I kissed her hair gently, knowing that she and Jane were the two people I cared about the most.

"At least both of you are still alive." I said, tightening my grip on her slightly. Kate nodded slightly, then traced a finger below my dark crimson eyes. "Let's go out. It's going to be cloudy all day, and you need to feed." she suggested.

"Of course, love." I said. Kate smiled at the new nickname. I laced my fingers through hers, and together we got into a black Mercedes(I took the driver's seat) and drove out into the city. We parked the car and walked around for a while. A lot of human girls gave me interested looks, and in return Kate glared at them all.

When we returned to the car, Kate immediately sat in the driver's seat. I raised an eyebrow at her, but sighed and sat in the passenger's seat.

"Are you sure you know how to drive this?" I teased. Kate rolled her eyes, "I'm a seven hundred and eighty six year old vampire. I'm sure I can drive a _human_ invention like this."

"Okay. Just asking." I sighed. Usually, no one would let a fifteen year old drive a car. But, since we _were_ smarter than the average adult, and had a fake license just in case(Aro insisted Jane and I both get one), I would say it was acceptable.

I sat still, replaying everything that had happened so far in my head. About twelve years ago, Edward comes to the Volturi, dying to be killed, and Aro told him no. Then I meet Isabella Marie Swan, and Aro says she must be turned. Then a year later, Alice sends us a wedding announcement. Then the Hybrid's born and we go all the way to Forks only to find that she wasn't an Immortal Child. Then, humiliated, we went all the way back to Volterra. Then, ten years later, Jane and I go back to Forks to check up on the Hybrid, where I meet Kate(and Skyler) and Kate and I have our Romeo and Juliet romance, which Jane finds out about. How eventful.

We were back at the Cullens' house around ten. Skyler was still suffering from a very bad migraine, which he probably got from stopping Jane and Kate from fighting. He laid down on the entire surface area of the couch, Alice's hand on his forehead, leaving everyone else to stand up, not that anyone would really care.

"Kate, I tried that hand-to-head thing, but he said my hand was too warm. Jacob's too." Renesmee said. Kate nodded, "Yeah. You know how when your hand is cold, it numbs any kind of pain, just a little?" Renesmee nodded. "Well, it's the same with Skyler's headaches. Heat just makes it worse, but anything cool will help."

Skyler stood up, "Thanks, Alice. I'm feeling much better now." He then locked eyes with Kate, "Your brother will be here very soon." he said, heading towards the backyard.

"I'm going out for a while." Kate said, giving me a hug. I tensed slightly, but slipped an arm around her. I didn't like being hugged in public, which I should probably tell her. "See you later, Alec." Kate said, pulling away and heading out the door.

* * *

**A/N: Hello. Sorry I took a week to update, but I had a short writer's block, and I'm working on nine stories at the same time here(but only this one is a fanfic) so when school's over I'll probably update faster. Hey, anyone know any good books? I've already read Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, Warriors series, BlueBloods, Uglies, Twilight(of course), Fablehaven, Blue is for Nightmares, and Vampire Academy. I will read City of Bones and Evermore soon. So anyone got any other books I should read?**

**Yes, Jane and Kate both lived because they will be very important to the story later on. And would Alec forgive any of them if one of them died?**


	12. Hopefully

"_**Every single memory is precious. Every life is a diary; a collection of memories, each unique to the world" **_**-Me**

**~Katrina~**

Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I stayed human. If Percy had never saved me from the burning at the stake. I probably would have died painfully, which didn't please me much as I don't tolerate pain easily though I barely showed it. Or I might have died trying to escape from the tower––yes, tower––they held me in as they prepared to burn me. Oh, and Lassen, too. He was my twin.

This memory of being captured was the only one I had as a human. Everything else was faded. I couldn't remember it if I tried. Skyler didn't remember anything, either. Actually, his memory was worse than mine, which was ironic considering he could read thoughts and stuff. But if I had to remember something, why did it have to be this? Lassen and I nearly being burned at the stake for witchcraft? Why that memory?

Yes, the humans thought Lassen and I were witches. It wasn't our fault I didn't like being told what to do, or that I wouldn't behave like a good girl and thought men shouldn't act like they were superior to everyone and everything. Or that Lassen was a little dark and sadist and didn't like anyone except maybe me. And since when was sticking pins in dolls so they wouldn't get lost considered witchcraft? I swear, it was like I was the only smart person in the world.

The reason we were being burnt was because they thought Lassen was a witch, and took me by association, because I was his twin and they claimed I had a voodoo doll, which was a complete lie.

They came to our house in the middle of the night. The full moon hung in the sky. We were seized from our beds and dragged to towers to await the unfair witch trial. What was there to defend against? The judge's mind would be made up before we even stepped into the court. Lassen struggled as much as I did, but when you have three men holding you down, there isn't much to do. Our parents looked on in horror at what happened.

See, in our time, twins were considered a bad thing. One of the misfortunes of being born in the early 1200s. October 21, 1209 was the day we were born. I can't remember who was the oldest, but considering we're almost eight-hundred years old, I don't think it really matters.

But I didn't want to die at fifteen. I didn't want my life ended before I really got a chance to live it. I knew Lassen felt the same way because he wasn't being his usual self. He actually looked scared, brown-and-black hair sticking to his face because the tower they locked us in was so hot and he was sweating out of fear and the heat.

Percy saved us then. He barged in through the door, killing the guards and swinging the door open like it was nothing. I didn't even have time to scream before he carried me and Lassen out the high window and into the mountains. I punched and kicked the whole time, though. I think it amused him.

When he finally put us down inside a cave, I finally saw what he looked like. He was a god-like creature, with cropped sandy-blonde hair and vivid eyes. It took me back for a second, then I realized that he was a _monster_. He looked like the description of vampires we heard in folklore: red irises, super strength, incredibly fast, and beauty to die for. I immediately asked him two questions; who was he and what the hell he was doing.

"You two have powerful gifts." he said plainly, "It would be such a shame if you died."

"Who are you?" Lassen asked the same question I asked. "And what do you mean by 'You two have powerful gifts?'"

" I am an explorer. A scientist. And a vampire with a gift." he said. "Yes, vampires exist. And some develop powerful gifts when they are changed. I can tell when a human or vampire has a gift." I would have laughed at him, except he carried us here so quickly it was like the world was a blur.

"How old are you, then?"

"I've lost count." he answered. "I am older than your most ancient civilizations. In fact, the Volturi leaders were changed by me. My name is Percy. I would like to add you to my army." I stared at him, confused. _Who the heck are the Volturi?_ But I didn't ask because a moment later someone called my name.

"Karena! Hadrian!" Richard called while screaming in pain. I looked over and saw him gripping his neck. Richard's parents were wealthy, like mine. Our fathers were close friends, so we knew each other. He was nice and put up with me daily.

Right now he looked over at us with shock. Percy grabbed my arm and leaned towards my neck. I heard Richard scream "No!" before he bit my neck. The piercing of his teeth hurt. And then it felt like my neck was on fire. It spread, burning my entire body. I screamed and screamed for what seemed like an eternity. Lassen screamed, too.

Then, three days later, it was all over. I felt different. And thirsty. Very thirsty. _Well, of course._ I hadn't had a drink in days. But then some delicious scent hit me. I sprinted to it and before I knew it, I was drinking the blood of a girl. And not just any girl. But Aria. She was rich but as ugly as a peasant no matter how much powder she put on or what expensive clothes she wore. It felt nice to kill her. Yes, I hated her. She was mean, petulant, and thought she was much prettier than she really was. As I was draining her, my mind became clouded with thoughts. _Aria's _thoughts. But I was too hungry to think about that now. Then, when I was finished with her, I wanted more. I caught sight of a group of humans carrying torches. Witch-hunters.

"Where are they?" one said. I snarled and jumped down, pinning one of them to the ground and finishing him and his friends off. But as I was killing the last one, I was suddenly showered with memories. I recognized them as his. It was becoming too much, and I threw him against a tree. I didn't stop to think about what I did until I saw Richard's startled face.

"They were looking for you." he said. I grunted in acknowledgement.

"Amazing." Percy said. "Richard, your control is fascinating. I wonder what your gift is." I heard him gasp, then he fell to the ground. A few minutes later, he was back up but still shaking and grinning.

"Amazing." he said again. I realized I could remember the witch-hunter's thoughts perfectly. Percy continued, "Now I know. You can create powerful illusions that affect the senses, too. Like Zafrina's, but much, much more powerful. Now you-" he turned to me "-I wonder what you can do." he walked towards me and I growled. Richard grabbed my hand right before I tried to pounce on him. I stared at Percy, remembering the pain of my transformation.

And then he was screaming.

It was so…well, I can't described it. Pleasuring? Funny? Like I enjoyed seeing him that way. A moment later when I stopped thinking about it, he stared up at me.

"Hm." he considered, "It's like Richard's gift. Now," he grabbed my hand. Suddenly, I knew something.

"He has potential." I gestured to a witch-hunter.

"Yes, he does." Percy said, "Shame you killed him. Now, how do you know that?"

"I don't know." I said, "You touched me and suddenly, I knew."

"Interesting." Percy said, "I conclude that your gift is absorbing the qualities of another person upon touch. For example, Richard's gift."

And that was how I discovered my gift. Lassen found out his soon after, when I tried to punch him and my arm slipped right through him. His gift was hard to explain…He was like a shadow. He could slip right through things and hide himself in the shade.

I don't know why I was thinking of this now. Yes, I seem to not know a lot of things, but that's just me. I _do_ know that Richard's gift probably came from the fact that he had a big imagination and when he thought of a scent(like food) and focused really hard, it was like he could smell it. I tried that once, but it didn't work. Lassen's gift, on the other hand, was still a mystery to me.

I finished my thoughts as I walked back to the Cullen house after hunting. I opened the door just as a hand grabbed my shoulder. A familiar voice sounded near my ear.

"Hello, sis." Lassen said.

I swung back immediately and found myself staring into my twin brother's hypnotizing eyes. They were a bright vampire burgundy. And frightening. Hypnotizing. Like mine. His hair was messy, spike-tipped, and stuck out in places. It was brown and black, each color separate but intertwined with the other. His lips were an inch from my face as I snarled. He chuckled. For a sadist and evidently murderous person, he didn't exactly look the part(except for the eyes.)

"What's up?" he said, "Can't a guy visit his own sister?" I couldn't help noticing that his voice always sounded a little like Skyler's. I narrowed my eyes.

"Of course." I answered dryly. I didn't trust my brother too much. He was a cold-hearted person who wouldn't even care if everyone he knew and loved died. I found myself wondering if he would even care for my death.

"Well, come on." he said as he grabbed my arm and pulled me right through(and I actually mean _through_) the door and right into a room with a confused Renesmee, Jacob, Alec, and Jane.

"Let me guess, that's the visitor you were talking about?" Jacob joked. Renesmee giggled.

"Hello." Lassen said, "I'm Lassen. Katrina's brother." I felt Alec rest his eyes on Lassen holding my arm by his side. I abruptly pulled away from him and sat next to Alec.

"I'm Alec." he said, "And this is Jane." I could tell he didn't trust him. Oh, great. This was going to be interesting. First Alec and Jane, and now Lassen's here too. Who next? Richard? Melina? Percy's ghost? We've only been here twelve days, and already I was starting to feel cramped. Let's hope no one else comes here.

"So, where's Skyler?" Lassen asked, his eyes showing absolutely no emotion compared to his voice.

"Out hunting." Renesmee answered. I glanced over at her eating some disgusting spaghetti. She and Skyler have been getting along fairly well.

_**Aw. Is Kati jealous? **_Skyler's voice spoke in my head. Well, looks like he's back. I thought "Shut up" in my head. Skyler sent me a mental picture of him rolling his eyes. I chuckled. For a vampire who had a nice ability, he sure used it for the oddest reasons.

Skyler entered the room a few seconds later, brushing his hair back from his face. Jane glared at Lassen, who didn't seem to notice her. He was too busy talking to Skyler. Then, he turned to Jane and smiled maliciously. I saw Jane's eyes widen as Lassen dissipated right in front of her. Alec mirrored her expression. I chuckled, leaning my head towards his chest. Then, Lassen appeared right behind Jane's head. She didn't notice until he placed a hand on her small, too-delicate shoulder and she jumped.

"What did you just do?" she growled, "That's your gift, huh? Disappearing into thin air?" Lassen chuckled. "No." he said, "I can blend in with the shade. All I did was make myself _seem_ invisible, little girl." he got up and walked to my side, "I would explain the whole concept to you, but I don't want to make your little head explode from all the information."

Jane didn't hesitate to use her gift on him. But he disappeared out of sight. That was the problem with Jane's gift. She needed to _see_ the person in order to use her gift on them. It focused mainly on a person and direction, so if someone threw themselves in front of someone else while Jane was using her gift on them, it would transfer to the other person instead of the original one.

"That's so cool!" Renesmee squealed. Lassen barely took notice of her. He materialized slightly in front of me, his face perfectly composed.

"You two look _so_ much alike!" Renesmee noted, "You look more alike than Jane and Alec." I guess it was true. We both had dark hair(though mine was darker than his), burgundy eyes, snowy-pale skin, childish faces, and lean bodies. The differences were that my eyelashes were longer than his and my lips more full. But we still had the same eyes; slightly wide almond-shaped, beautiful, hypnotizing, and frightening.

In our human life, we were well liked. It was only some adults' suspicions that nearly got us killed, and you can mostly blame that on Lassen. After all, _he_ was the one who tried to practice dark magic. I knew what he was doing, but being his twin, I kept it a secret since they would probably execute me too if I said anything.

The next few days were okay. Just okay. It was harder being around Alec with Lassen around. I just hoped he wouldn't make himself invisible and spy on us. Lassen hated the Volturi more than I did. I was surprised(yet glad) that he didn't just kill Jane and Alec the moment he laid eyes on them. I would've stopped him, of course. I would hate to see Alec's pretty face in pain again.

I spent some time teaching Renesmee(who always tried to get me to call her Nessie) some singing techniques. She didn't go to her mother, since Bella was still the worst singer in the world, even for a vampire. I was teaching her how to vibrate her voice like vibrato, since she was very bad at that.

"How do you do it?" she asked.

"It's easy." I answered as I showed her how to do it. Again. She tried, but only managed to lower her voice a skip, no vibrato whatsoever. I groaned. Here she was, a half-vampire, half-human hybrid who could live in both worlds, and she can't even manage a little vibrato.

"By the way," Renesmee said, "why don't you ever call me Nessie? I call you by your nickname."

"Because, I don't feel like it." I answered.

An hour later, and she still couldn't manage even the smallest vibrato. I was becoming frustrated. No. I was _becoming_ frustrated forty-seven minutes ago. Now, I'm mad like hell. How hard is it to vibrate your voice? I could do it naturally since I was five(I think) with no help at all.

"You don't need vibrato to make it into Concert Choir, you know." I said.

"Yeah, but I want to learn it!" Renesmee replied. I sighed, "Isn't it supposed to be a natural thing, vibrato? You don't learn it like learning to ride a bike, it's supposed to be like breathing. Maybe hybrids can't do vibrato." Renesmee's eyes began to tear up at the possibility she may never learn to vibrate her voice. I ignored the tears. No one's perfect, after all, so what's a little vibrato, anyway?

"No one's perfect." I said, "Maybe you can't do vibrato like me, but can I go out into the sun without worry? And do I have a happy family? Alec's sister hates my guts!" Whoa, where did that last part come from? Alec was by my side in an instant, his smooth arms wrapping around me.

"Don't worry." he whispered in my ear, "We'll work this out." Then he gave me a soft kiss. I smiled, resting my head on his shoulder.

"Aw, how cute." Renesmee said. Alec glared at her. "Uh, I'll just leave you two alone." She got up and left, but not before glancing back and saying, "And don't worry. Alec's right, you three will work this out."

"You mean 'You _four_.'" I said, "I don't think Lassen likes this." Renesmee nodded, leaving the room. I saw Lassen give Alec a small glare, and Alec's arms tightened around me in response. I kissed his cheek, making him smirk.

"Yeah, we'll work this out." I said, "Hopefully."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I was working on this book I'm writing. I'll make sure to get the next chapter up by Wednesday, sooner if I can. **


	13. Nosy MindReader

_"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvelous structure of reality" _-Albert Einstein

**~Skyler~**

Ugh. All these people are giving me a migraine. Everyone's thinking different thoughts, and they're so loud, I can barely hear my own mind. It's gotten worse since Kate and Alec's secret has been revealed, because now everyone is thinking about it. This is why I'm a nomad. I can't stand so many thoughts!

I sighed. Okay, now I'm more under control. I felt someone staring at me, and I looked ahead, seeing Rosalie, Bella, and Jasper all staring at me with confused faces. I groaned, apologizing in my head. Sometimes when I'm ranting or something, I accidentally send my thoughts to random people.

Lassen shot glares at Alec, obviously not happy about the fact that his sister was dating a Volturi guard. Jane was outside torturing a cat because she was angry and hurt that her brother would keep such a big secret from her. Renesmee and Alice both wondered how they hadn't seen this coming, and everyone else's thoughts were connected to the four twins(Kate, Lassen, Alec, and Jane).

"The nerve of that guy," Lassen hissed under his breath. Alec and Kate were arguing about something. Animals, I think. Alec didn't give a care about them and Kate said they were cute, furry, and some other things.

"Hey, at least she's happy." I shrugged. Lassen glowered at me, "How could anyone be happy with a _Volturi_?" he spat the word hatefully. Nicolelooked uncomfortable around everyone, and she sat reading a book.

"Why'd you bring her?" I asked, giving a slight nod towards her. A bit after Lassen had come, Nicole showed up. Apparently, Lassen had given her a phone call telling her to come here.

"Her gift was useful to me," Lassen replied apathetically.

"Or was it to keep an eye on Kate?" I said. Lassen glared at me, a growl rumbling in his chest. I kept my face calm.

"You can't hide secrets from me," I said, growling slightly.

"Whatever. It's my business," Lassen snarled.

"Why is it so hard for you to openly care about someone?" I narrowed my eyes.

"Hmph!" Lassen retorted, "Look who's talking! _You_ didn't seem to care about anyone the first time I met you."

"People can change," I said simply. Lassen shrugged, snarled, and left the room. Anna followed him like a little puppy. I leaned my head back on the couch, feeling a little frustrated.

"Skyler, I'm bored," Renesmee said, tugging on my sleeve, "How long are you guys going to stay?" I glanced at her. Seemed like she got more and more like Kate every day.

"I have no idea," I answered, "Ask Kate." Renesmee pouted on the couch, but I ignored her. The girl's got to learn that not everything in life is simple or easy.

Alec and Kate were done with their argument, which didn't seem to have a winner. Now Kate was on a different couch with Alec's head on her lap with his eyes closed. For once, he actually looked peaceful, like he was sleeping––if that was possible, of course. I was more likely to fall asleep than most vampires. People always did say that un-vampire-like things always did seem to happen to me. Could a normal vampire get headaches? No. Could a normal vampire be _out of breath?_ No. It didn't bother me, though. I didn't like being "normal." Being unique was much more fun, anyway.

"Skyler, why is my brother here?" Kate asked, still playing with Alec's hair, "And why did he bring that girl along?"

"I can't really tell," I admitted, "He's trying not to think about his intentions. And the girl doesn't know anything."

"Try harder, then," Kate ordered through gritted teeth.

"No promises," I drawled. Kate scoffed, but said nothing.

An hour later, Renesmee came in carrying six boxes. She placed them on the coffee table. They were all the same shape and size.

"Think of them as New Year's presents," she smiled.

"I'll pick first!" Kate said, picking up a blue box. Kate really liked presents, and demanded we celebrate her "birthday" at least every fifty years(if it had been every year, I'd be broke or run out of things to buy).

Kate opened up the box, revealing a pair of dark ruby earrings set in white gold.

"I'm so glad I wasn't going to pick that box," I heard Lassen murmur, "Okay, me next." He reached for a yellow box, but Kate slapped his hand away.

"You're not allowed to touch them," she snarled, "Which one do you want?"

"…the green one…" Lassen muttered. Kate picked up the box for him and he opened it. Inside was a Nickelback CD.

"Better than earrings," Lassen said.

"Why isn't he allowed to touch the boxes?" Renesmee asked like the curious girl she was.

"Because for some reason, when he touches a container, he can sort of _see_ what's inside it, and that's cheating," Kate explained, "He tried to do that about seven hundred years ago."

"And it would have worked," Lassen muttered harshly, "if _someone_ wasn't such a nosy mind-reader." He glared at me and I rolled my eyes.

"It's true," Kate shrugged. Anna got a pearl necklace, Jane got an MP3, Alec got a bracelet(which Kate promptly took) and I got a Linkin park CD, though I'll admit I sort of cheated by "accidentally" reading Renesmee's mind. Kate would rip my arm off if she found out. Well, what Kate doesn't know won't cost me a limb. And what she _does_ know she will eventually find a way to use against me, so it's better if she doesn't know too much.

"You stole my present," Alec teased, "Now what will you give me in exchange for it?"

"I know what you're thinking," Kate said, "But you'll just have to settle for this." She kissed Alec's slightly disappointed lips, causing me to roll my eyes and Lassen to glower at them.

The wolves weren't so happy with all the visiting vampires, but they gained about five new members. The one I was curious about, though, was Leah. I wondered why she was the only female shapeshifter. I got nothing by reading her mind, but didn't think about it too much.

"_Skyler," Kate had said once, "What does a vampire do if their arm or leg gets toasted?"_

"_I don't know," I shrugged, "They walk around without an arm, probably."_

"_I don't want to loose an arm," Kate said._

"_Me either," I said._

"_Isn't it kind of weird how no vampires are missing any limbs?"_

"_How is that weird?"_

"'_Cause they've been alive so long, you'd think they would've gotten in a fight or something."_

"_Well, why would someone just burn a limb? Why not the whole body?"_

"_To make them suffer or something, duh."_

"_You're much too curious for your own good, you know."_

"_You don't get anywhere by not wondering."_

"_Another poet's quote?"_

"_No," Kate replied, "A Kate quote."_

That had been about five hundred years ago. The memory still made me laugh, just a little. When you've been a vampire for so long, you try to find as many things to entertain you as possible. Kate wrote and read stories, poems, song, etc. I just read random people's minds. Hm, maybe I am a nosy mind-reader.

"Hello? Sky?" Kate said, waving a hand in front of my face, "Stop spacing out." I shook my head.

"Can I borrow that CD sometime?" Kate asked.

"Sure," I said, handing her the CD. She walked over to the computer(yes, she knows how to use one) to put the songs into her MP3 player.

Then the dog came in.

Jacob walked right in, ignoring every vampire except Renemsee. I wrinkled my nose at his scent. Though, I couldn't help but notice our contrasts. His skin was dark; mine was light. His hair was dark; mine wasn't. His eyes were dark; mine were bright. He had a broad shape; I was lean. From the vampires' memories, he could be…impulsive, to put it lightly; I was much more level-headed. And he was still a child compared to me. Twenty-six compared to over seven-hundred.

"Sky, I'm bored," Renesmee said when he left the room. I glared at her, because Kate was the only one who could call me Sky, and that was when she was in a good mood. Everyone else called me Skyler, not Sky, and I told her that, opting an apology from her.

"But how come only she gets to call you Sky?" Renesmee asked.

"I don't know, but she was the only one to call me Sky as a human and that's how I like it," I said simply, "You're too curious, Renesmee. You remind me of Kate, kind of."

"Then can I call you Sky?"

"Nice try, but no way," I smirked, walking out of the house to hunt.

* * *

**A/N: Summer's so boring without my friends. Just because I'm bored, I'd use "I'm Only Me When I'm With You" by Taylor Swift to describe Kate and Skyler's relationship because they're best friends. Kate and Lassen's, I have no idea. And if I did pick a song, it might give some things away about the plot, which you are happy to make suggestions to, if you want.**

**By the way, I changed Anna's name to Nicole for plot-related purposes.**

**I love that quote at the top:)**

**Curiosity, to me, is a good thing. Without it, people wouldn't know so much because they wouldn't wonder about why things happen. We wouldn't know how gravity works, or about the seasons, or a lot of things if we weren't curious.**

**"Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why" ~Bernard Baruch**


	14. Fears

**~Lassen~**

What in the world is going on in my sister's head? How could she like a _Volturi_? I hate this. And I especially hate how Skyler keeps trying to get inside my head! Why'd she have to save that guy…

_**You're a great friend, too, Lassen**_, Skyler bit out rather sarcastically. _Hmph. Whatever._ I don't get it. Alec? Seriously? Why him? Why anyone in the first place? Now she's going to spend all her time with him and I'm going to lose my––wait, what am I saying? I hoped Skyler didn't hear me.

_**Oh, I did.**_ _Tell Katrina this and I will rip your arms off._ _**Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. And you're not going to lose your sister.**_ Somehow, the tone of his voice only worsened my fears. _**I think you and Jane would get along very well.**_ What? Is he _trying_ to set me up with my sister's boyfriend's sister? _**NO! **_Skyler's voice screamed in my head. Ouch. _**I'm just saying that you both are afraid of losing your siblings…**_

Good thing Katrina wasn't here. She couldn't get mad at me for _almost_ ripping Skyler's head off. But then the guy had to cheat by reading my mind…I hate this. Things were so much simpler before America.

Alec stepped into the room, and I couldn't help but glare at him. I think he noticed me, though it didn't show in his face. His stupid little sycophantic face. Jane was nowhere in sight, as she still hadn't forgiven her brother for being with Kate. Poor little girl. Poor little Mary Jane…Wait, what did I just say?

Actually, now that I thought about it, Jane did look like that girl, Mary Jane Proctar, and not just because their names both had Jane in them. Same blonde hair, same boyish features. It was just that Mary Jane seemed much nicer than her. Of course, Mary Jane was human…

A loud clank interrupted my thoughts. Rosalie and the werewolf were arguing. Again. Something about a totally boring subject that I didn't bother to pay attention to. The hybrid was nowhere in sight. Hm, I wonder what hybrid blood tastes like…

Edward snarled at me, but I just scoffed at him. Not my fault he had a freakish daughter. An _unnatural_ freakish daughter. For once, I actually hoped that the Volturi would succeed and kill that thing. Edward snarled at me, making everyone in the room turn to him. Rosalie and Jacob stopped their argument, both raising an eyebrow at him. I didn't even turn, just staring out the window at the raining sky. He couldn't hurt me, I knew, even if he tried.

"Would…you…stop…insulting…my…daughter," Edward growled slowly and harshly. _Shut up. _I said, knowing he could hear me. _It's not my fault she's so weird. Or that you knocked up a human girl. And you can't hurt me. You can't even touch me._

Isabella pounced on me, but I used my gift in time and she slipped right through me, colliding with the window.

"God, Lassen, you _are_ worse than Kate!" she hissed.

"Like I care," I growled, "Look. You might think you and your family is perfect and all, but it's not. It's not perfect to have met your mate while you were human, then have both your lives endangered so many times and let Edward save you like you're a damsel in distress, then meet some werewolf and be caught in a stupid love triangle. 'Oh, I love Edward but I love Jacob too. I know, I'll just take the vampire and keep the weird mutant werewolf as a side.' And it's not normal to have a hybrid child and actually _live_ through the experience, and then your little side dish _imprints_ on said child, though it's more of an obsession to me. Yeah, you're life is great. I would _love _to be you." I said the last part sarcastically. Isabella narrowed her eyes at me, but I wasn't the least bit affected by it. She may think she's invincible because of her shield, but I could still rip her apart limb from limb. After all, her gift had absolutely no affect on me. And I'm sure she's never had to fight––seriously fight––anyone. The little klutz wouldn't stand a chance.

Isabella stomped away in anger with Edward on her heels. For some reason, she reminded me of a spoilt, tantrum-throwing child. Tsk, tsk. She's had nearly thirty years to grow up.

_**Haha,**_ Skyler laughed, _**Loved that! Almost burst out laughing. At Bella, of course.**_

I smiled, pleased with myself. I started to walk out the door, catching Jane and Alec chuckling at Isabella. Katrina was coming back right now. I could see her. Considering her loathing of that Cullen, she would love to hear this.

"Why are you grinning, Lassen?" she asked, "What did you do to Alec?" I frowned when she added that last part with an edge of worry.

"Nothing," I said, stifling laughter. She hissed at me. "Honestly!" I said, "But you should've come back about five minutes ago. It was hilarious." Katrina arched an eyebrow at me. I told her about the little spat I had with the shield, and she laughed.

"Why didn't you wait for me?" she said, elbowing my ribs, "I would've loved to see that! Although, you didn't have to be so mean to Renesmee. I like her; she's a whole lot better than her parents."

"Whatever," I frowned, "If you're friends with her, it's going to end in tears. Well, her tears, when you kill her parents for being dumb and obsessive."

"Yeah," Katrina said, "That Bella thinks she's everything. God, I hate her. She _cringes_ at the sight of human blood. Hello? We're predators; they're prey. Humans are overpopulating the world, anyway. And at least we're not endangering animals. We're not that bad, anyway. You know I haven't even killed a child, ever."

"Me neither," I agreed, "But I have turned some. They're not Immortal Children, of course."

"I know," Katrina said, "Hey, have you seen Richard anywhere? I want to see Bella's reaction to him."

"What do you mean?" I said, "She'd probably love him. He's like another Carlisle. Except he drinks human blood, of course."

"Who cares if we drink human blood?" Katrina said, "I mean, it's natural. The only Cullens I actually like are Carlisle, Renesmee, and Alice. And I guess Emmett."

"Wait, Alice is the pixie girl, right?"

"Yeah."

"Eh, she's okay. As long as she doesn't try to dress me up or anything."

"I like her taste in cars."

"O-kay…"

"I'd like a black Mercedes."

"Maybe for your next birthday," I said, "I mean, _our_ next birthday."

"Don't forget," Katrina joked, "Or I'll rip off your hand and hide it somewhere."

"Better not be in the ocean again." I said, remembering the time she'd hid my ear in the Pacific Ocean. I spent ten years looking for that thing.

"Hey, you found it," she reasoned, "It took ten and a half years, but you found it."

"Now I won't look like that Van Gough painting anymore," I said, "Can't say I miss that."

"I think this is the nicest conversation we've ever had," Katrina said suddenly. I shrugged, "By a mile. Anyway, I'm gonna go hunting."

"I'll come, too," Skyler said.

"Didn't you just go a few days ago?" Katrina said.

"Shh," Skyler held a finger in front of his mouth and shh'd.

"Then I'm coming, too," Katrina announced.

"You just ate," I said.

"So?" Katrina said, "Besides, I want Skyler to play me that whole Bella thing. Next time, wait 'til I come back to insult someone."

"Yeah, yeah," I said dismissively.

We hunted for an hour, though the food didn't taste as great. The blood in Florida was my favorite, though it was annoying having to stay out of the sun all day. The blood made it worth it, though.

Skyler showed Katrina the whole entire scene.

"Lassen, this might be the best thing I've ever seen," Katrina said.

"So can it count as your birthday present?" I asked hopefully, so I wouldn't have to get her a car she might wreck.

"No way, _brother._"

"Worth a try," I shrugged.

"Remember when we met Carlisle?" Katrina said.

"Well, duh," I said. It was about three hundred years ago. We saw Carlisle drinking the blood of a bear. Being curious as always, Katrina made Skyler and I stay and watch.

"Hello," she said.

"Good afternoon," Carlisle replied, "My name is Carlisle."

"I'm Kate," Katrina said, using that nickname I'd never called her by, "This is my brother, Lassen, and my friend, Skyler."

"Sister, we should be going," I said, wary of Carlisle's golden eyes.

"Brother, we have all of eternity to get where we're going," Katrina argued, "Can't we just relax?" She frowned at my slight growl, but I didn't bother to argue.

"Did you just drink an _animal's_ blood?" Skyler asked.

"Yes," Carlisle said.

"Why?"

"I don't feel very comfortable drinking human blood," Carlisle answered. Katrina cocked her head to one side slightly, "How odd," she said, "Well, nice to meet you, Carlisle."

"You, too," he answered.

"How long have you been a vampire?" Katrina asked.

"About seventy years."

"Quite young," I noted in a monotone.

"Who's your creator?" Skyler asked. Carlisle said he didn't know and he told us a bit of his story.

"And you managed to stay away from humans?" Katrina said, slight amazement evident in her voice, "Even as a newborn?"

"Yes."

"You remind me of a friend of mine," Katrina said. I knew instantly that she was referring to Richard, "Although he drinks human blood instead of animal. Well, we'll be going now. Bye, Carlisle."

"Farewell," Carlisle replied.

"You know, you two don't have to have flashbacks every time someone talks about a memory," Skyler noted.

"It's not our fault you have to listen in on them," I bit out sourly.

"Lassen, didn't mom say your face would freeze up like that someday?" Katrina said, referring to my sour expression. I snorted in response.

"Why did you come here?" Katrina asked.

"Why do you have to ask me this?"

"I'm curious."

"Can't I just visit my own sister?"

"Stop avoiding the question," Katrina narrowed her eyes. I glanced at Skyler, who looked about ready to spill the beans. I snarled slightly.

"Stop being so nosy, _sister_," I growled, "Do you see me asking you why you're in a relationship with a Volturi guard?"

"Leave him alone!" Katrina snarled, suddenly looking very vicious. I glanced at Skyler, wondering how her emotions had changed so quickly. _**Have Nicole use her gift when we get back.**_ I nodded.

"Hey, it's just my opinion," I said, "I thought you hated the Volturi, too."

"I do," Katrina answered.

"Then why are you with one of their guards?"

"I hate the Volturi in general. Alec's okay." I snarled but didn't protest.

"We should get back," Skyler said, his eyes staring at the sunset in the horizon. I nodded slightly.

The moment we stepped into the living room, I smelled the scent of werewolf.

_**Shapeshifter.**_ Skyler corrected. _Oh, who cares?_

Jacob was on the couch, his arm tightening around the hybrid when he saw me. The hybrid looked a little scared(probably of me) and hid her face in her hair. I rolled my eyes. It wasn't like I was going to kill her or anything.

I frowned a little when Alec walked into the room and Katrina immediately closed the distance between them.

Yeah, I wasn't going to lose my sister, I thought bitterly.

* * *

**A/N: Yeah, I'm mostly improvising on this chapter. This chapter also has a _lot_ of dialogue. Aw, Lassen's afraid of losing his sister. And he really hates Bella, too(sorry and no offense Bella, Edward, and Renesmee fans[well, probably not Renesmee 'cause Kate defends her).**

**Thanks to HermioneandMarcus, Shadow2446, Mason and Alex, and nickiR0x for reviews.**

**Thanks to Mason and Alex, rosebaby123, nickiR0x, AttitudeDragon, .Devil, easerhorse, converse-junkie, and Shadow2446 for favorites/alerts.**


	15. The Past and Charlie's Present

**~Renesmee~**

I can say with absolute certainty that Kate's brother utterly horrified me, so much that I couldn't even say his name even in my own mind, much less out loud. Kate's stories about him only worsened my fears, so that I was terrified of him before I had even seen his face. Though I supposed he did seem a bit protective of his sister. But when I mentioned this to Kate, she looked at me like I was crazy. Hm, it seems like Kate has become more carefree since she started going out with Alec.

I don't know why my family hates the Volturi so much. They seemed fine with me. Well, except for Jane, Caius, and maybe Aro. They scared me a bit. I had met the Volturi leaders once, when I was five and we went to Volterra because Aro had insisted on it. Marcus seemed so…sad. I wondered what had made him that way. Heidi dressed me up like a Barbie doll the whole entire two weeks… It wasn't pleasant at all.

Sure, the Volturi had tried to kill me, but without them, the world would be in chaos and a whole lot more innocent humans would die.

I'm such an idiot.

"No you're not, Nessie," daddy told me instantly. I stared up at him exasperatedly. _Dad, stop reading my mind, please. I need privacy._

"Of course," daddy said. "But you're not."

I giggled. Oh, yes I was. For not figuring out about Kate and Alec for so long. I know it was only a few days, but still. I should've known.

I stood in my bedroom, staring at a mirror, trying to straighten my incredibly curly hair. Why? 'Cause I liked to. I thought I looked like a completely different person when my hair was straightened. It's amazing how something as simple as hair could make a person look completely different.

Kate told me that her hair curled up a bit when it got wet(not my kind of curly, but rather large, circle-like curls. A bit between wavy and curly). I tried to throw some water on her once to see, but she dodged out of the way and told me that if I ever did that again, she'd cut all of my hair off. Since I very much liked my hair, I never tried to do that again.

Skyler laughed when I told him that. He said it was something Kate(as a human) would've done. Although she wouldn't have gotten discouraged by a threat like that. He also said that I was becoming more and more like her with every passing day. I thought that was a good thing, but then I realized that momma didn't like Kate that much. And if I was going to end up like her, then would momma hate me, too?

"No," Skyler had told me. "The Kate I knew before and Kate now are different. They're the same person, of course, but their personalities differ quite a bit. I don't remember much as a human, but I know that Kate as a human was pretty much exactly like you, except more curious, devious, funny, smart––no offense,––reckless, and not so…sensible. She could change people. She had good intuition. And she was a quick-thinker."

"Huh? That sounds just like she is now," I said.

"Well, believe it or not, this is the closest I've seen Kate to her human self in at least five hundred years, maybe more," Skyler admitted. "I quite like this. Kind of makes me want to stay here longer, despite the mutts' smells."

"I don't even notice them," I said.

"Well then, consider yourself lucky," Skyler chuckled.

"Tell me more about Kate," I asked. Skyler stared at me for a second, then sighed and nodded.

"Alright," he said. "But you really should ask her brother about this. His human memories are a bit clearer than mine. Plus, he's known her longer."

"No way!" I shook my head. "He scares me…"

"He won't hurt you," Skyler said. "Well, at least not physically. You're his sister's friend. He wouldn't upset her that way. No, as long as Kate likes you, he won't lay a finger on you. That's the only reason why Jane and Alec are still alive. Though Jane's only unharmed because of her association with Alec. I swear, Lassen is just _dying_ to kill them."

"Why do you all hate the Volturi so much?" I asked.

"I don't hate the Volturi," Skyler chuckled. "I don't particularly like them, either. But if you're asking about Kate and Lassen, then that's different. Lassen blames them for him and his sister becoming vampires, since their creator created them to be in an army he wanted to use against the Volturi. But his goal was never accomplished. We all ended up raising ourselves. I wasn't created by him. He died very shortly before I became a vampire."

"Tell me about it," I demanded.

"Alright. Well, Kate and Lassen were thought to be witches and so the humans locked them up in a tower a day before they were to be judged at a court. Their creator––I never got his name, they wouldn't tell me or even think about it––broke in and helped them escape. They were to be a few of the first in his army. He'd turned two other people, just two. They were Richard––Kate's friend––and a vampire named Corin, I think. He joined the Volturi afterwards.

"Kate and Lassen were taught some fighting skills for a few weeks, but then… this is a bit hard for me to say, but I jumped off a cliff."

"Why did you do that?" I asked, utterly shocked.

"I don't know…I was being stupid, trying to commit suicide, I think. You see, my mother died when I was still a toddler, so I don't remember her much. My father was not a nice man. He wasn't abusive, but to me it didn't seem like he cared about anything but power. He didn't pay any attention to me and we moved around a lot. And I have to admit, I was a complete and total jerk when I was a human. I changed, of course, but…yeah. Kate changed me without even trying. She showed me there was more to life than what my father had taught me.

"Okay, so I committed suicide. It didn't really work. I broke a few bones, got some bruises, and nearly bled to death, but it didn't work. I wasn't close enough to death that they just dumped me in a coffin, but I was still very close. I was sent to a hospital. Kate killed her creator while she was still a newborn and changed me. She almost sucked out all of my blood in the process, but she managed to stop. It hurt so much more than the pain I was already in. You're lucky you never had to be changed, Renesmee. Very lucky. I just wanted to die. I was already in enough pain, and it only got worse when Kate bit me.

"So Kate's your creator?" I asked.

"Yes, she is. Now back to the story." I nodded. "I turned into a vampire. At first I didn't believe it, but I could read everyone's minds. Everyone got tired of that really fast, since no one liked having no privacy. But since Kate had killed our creator, we were practically raising ourselves. Richard was the most rational and calmest of us all. In fact, he's a lot like Carlisle. He kept us all under control. Lassen was the worst. The moment he smelled humans, he was already halfway to sinking his teeth in them.

"It's a bit of a wonder we never revealed ourselves to humans. Everything got easier after the first few years, but it was still hard. The good thing was we met some vampires who helped us. Those Denali sisters were the most helpful of them all. The Amazonians were nice, too.

"After a while, I started to notice Kate's behavior change. She was becoming much more calculating and skillful. Eventually, she created a bunch of vampires she knew would have useful gifts and copied the gift, but usually she'd kill the vampires. She let some of them live, though. Melina, for example. Of course, that might have been because she and Richard became mates.

"Richard and Lassen noticed Kate's behavioral changes, too. Lassen refused to leave her side for two centuries. He was such an over-protective brother, and he still is. After a while, he left to do something, although he wouldn't tell us what. Then he returned a few decades later with a vampire named Lissa. She could see the future. Her gift was a bit like Alice's, except she couldn't control what she saw, and all her predictions came true. No exceptions. Kate wanted her gift, but Lassen wouldn't let her absorb it, saying it was for her own safety. I was the only one who knew what he meant by that.

"Lissa saw a human bleed to death, but Lassen didn't care. Kate, on the other hand, _saved_ that human for some reason. I don't know why. It was the only time Lissa's vision was wrong. Actually, she saved him twice." Skyler gritted his teeth as he said the last sentence. He wasn't happy about that, I could tell. I was hanging on to every word.

"Well, that's all I'm going to tell you for now," Skyler sighed.

"That's a long story," I said.

"It's seven hundred years worth of experience," Skyler replied. "What did you expect?"

That all happened earlier this morning. I was glad that my vampiric mind remembered the entire conversation word by word, because I wanted to remember that story. I felt sorry for Skyler because of his dad. It made me that much more glad that my own father was so much nicer to me. I wondered who the human was. The one that Kate saved. And I wondered why she saved him, too.

"Hey, Renesmee," Kate called. I snapped my head up, towards her voice. "What do you think of this dress?" I looked at the beautiful red satin gown she wore. It had spaghetti straps and was the color of vampire burgundy, the same color as Kate's eyes. It flowed downwards, just barely touching the ground. Every step Kate took made the dress ripple a little.

"Wow," I breathed. The dress looked perfect on her. Absolutely perfect, and it matched her lipstick and eyes. There was slight cleavage, just slight. Not very noticeable. But still, mom would never let me wear a dress like that.

"Can you say anything else?" Kate teased.

"You look perfect," I complimented.

"Great," Kate replied.

"Is this for Alec?" I asked knowingly.

"Yep," Kate replied, putting on matching earrings. "Those teenage hormones. I'm going to tease him a bit. It'll be funny."

"Yeah, I'll bet," Momma and daddy had had that "talk" with me very early in life(because of Jacob) and I knew all about this.

Skyler raised an eyebrow when he'd seen her step into the living room wearing that perfect dress. Kate's brother just glared and narrowed his eyes. No one else seemed to notice, or maybe they were just pretending not to notice, because it would be very hard not to notice that. I had to admit, I was jealous. Just a little, but jealous nonetheless.

"I love that dress!" Aunt Alice beamed. "How beautiful! Is it for something special?" Kate shook her head, "Nope. Just wanna mess with someone a bit."

"Hey, that reminds me," Aunt Alice said. "We should go shopping tomorrow."

"You know I'm a nomad," Kate reminded her. "I can't just lug that stuff around."

"Well, maybe it's time for you to settle down and join a coven," Aunt Alice suggested. "You've been traveling for seven hundred years."

"I don't like to stay in one place for so long," Kate said. "I'd rather see the sights. When I was human, there were no such things as skyscrapers or MP3s. Human things change so quickly… Seems like just yesterday people were still saying 'thy' and 'thee.'" They both laughed a little.

"Alright," Aunt Alice sighed. "Then let's see a movie. Then you won't have to lug anything around."

"Deal," Kate agreed.

"Can I come, too?" I asked.

"Of course," Aunt Alice replied sweetly.

"Nothing more than PG13, got it?" Mom said, glaring at Kate.

"Of course not, Bella," Kate smiled wryly. Mom narrowed her eyes at Kate, but didn't say anything and just walked away.

Alec walked in right then. Jane followed shortly after. Alec's eyes widened slightly as they took in the sight of Kate and the beautiful gown. Jane bared her teeth but said nothing.

"I'm going to hunt," Aunt Alice said. "Bella, you should come, too. It's been two weeks since you last fed." Mom glanced at me for a split second before she turned back to Aunt Alice and nodded. They sprinted out of the room.

Alec walked into the room, stopping in front of Kate. I didn't think he could stop himself from staring at the slight cleavage. But eventually he moved his eyes to hers.

"Kate, why are you all dressed up?" Alec asked.

"No reason," Kate shrugged casually. Alec narrowed his eyes slightly and chuckled once.

"Kate, do you _enjoy_ torturing me?" he asked.

"Of course," Kate breathed.

"Stupid girl," Alec murmured, kissing her lips. For a moment I was surprised he would say that to her, but then I realized he was just joking. Jacob moved to my side. I had forgotten him for a moment.

"Come on, Nessie," he said. "You should hunt."

"Nah," I shook my head. "It's only been a week." I thought about what Kate had said, about animals, and decided that I should only hunt every two or three weeks. Until then, I would try to survive on human food.

"Can we visit Grandpa Charlie?" I asked.

"Sure," Jacob said. "I can't believe we'll have to move soon."

"Where have the years gone," I sighed. But we had been here for more than ten years(though I was ten years old) and people might get suspicious. We would be moving to somewhere in Europe soon. I didn't want to leave Grandpa Charlie or Seth or any of the other Clearwaters or anyone else, but we had to. I had met Grandma Renee when I'd "grown up" AKA turned eighteen. I had to pretend to be another adoptee, but I couldn't help but call her Grandma. She seemed okay with it.

They––Charlie, Renee, and Jacob's father––were all growing old. I would dread the day when they'd die. I'd miss them too much, so I'd devoted to spending as much time with them as possible. And how could I do that if we moved away?

Jacob led me to my red convertible, and we(me in the driver's seat) drove to Grandpa Charlie's house. I practically jumped out of the car to knock on his door. I heard slight footsteps and then Charlie opened the door.

"Nessie!" he beamed, hugging me. "Hey, Jake!" He shook Jacob's hand. Charlie looked so much different from time I'd met him ten years ago. He was older, of course, and his hair was streaked with more gray than brown. Little wrinkles were spattered across his face. The dark brown eyes were still there. Our dark brown eyes.

"Hi, Grandpa Charlie!" I said enthusiastically.

"Well, come on in," he said. "Edward told me you guys were having some unexpected guests over. Tell me about them. He won't let me meet them. Said it had to do with the secret."

"Yeah," I said. He still didn't know anything about vampires and even though I was dying to tell him the whole story, I couldn't because mom and dad and forbidden me from doing so. "They're pretty nice. Well, most of them." I added, thinking of Kate's brother and Jane. "Kate and I are pretty great friends. Her friend Skyler is nice, too." _**Oh, so Kate gets "great friends" and all I have is "nice?"**_ I jumped, startled by the sudden voice in my head. Charlie looked at me questioningly, but shrugged it off. _Skyler!_

_**Yeah?**_ _Stop doing that! Where are you, anyway?__** Still at Carlisle's. **__You can hear me from all the way over there?_ I asked, shocked. _**Of course.**_

"Anything else?" Charlie pushed.

"Kate has a twin brother," I continued. "He's not as nice, but he's okay, I guess… And there's another pair of twins there, too. And a girl who doesn't talk much." I decided to be a bit vague, just in case.

"A lot of houseguests, it seems," Charlie said. "Are they all kids?"

"Well, kind of," I said. Considering all of them(except Nicole) were several hundred years old, I didn't think of them as kids.

"Your dad says you're all leaving soon," Charlie said suddenly, changing the subject.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm gonna miss you, Grandpa." I reached out for a hug. He held me in a tight embrace.

"Me too," Charlie said. "At least call me, okay Nessie?"

"Of course," I giggled.

We stayed and chatted for about a half an hour before we left. I looked at some shops, hoping to find something for Charlie, a little goodbye present. He liked fishing, so I figured I should buy him something like a fishing rod or something.

"How about this, Jake?" I asked, pointing at a "high-tech" fishing rod.

"I think he's got enough of those, Nessie," he answered. I frowned.

"This is hard," I crossed my arms. "Charlie's got everything fish-related."

"No, he doesn't," Jacob argued. "This could work." I followed his eyes to some kind of display tank, complete with a fishing sonar.

"Nah," I shook my head. He already had that. I reached into my purse and took out my cell phone, dialing dad's number.

"What is it?" dad asked, a bit worried. I groaned, "Dad! Just because I call you doesn't mean I'm in trouble or anything. I was just wondering, what should I buy Grandpa Charlie? You know, as a goodbye present."

"Make a scrapbook or something," dad suggested. "You know, with pictures to remind him of us. You like art; it shouldn't take too long."

"That's a good idea," I said. "Okay. Bye!" I pushed the END button and stuffed the phone back in my purse, then grabbed Jacob's hand(he was looking at fishing poles) and walked out of the store, putting some money in a jar for a local charity.

"Please, Kate?" I begged. Again. I was having an incredibly hard time talking Kate into helping with my scrapbook present.

"Why?" Kate whined impatiently.

"Because you're a great artist," I said. Well, it _was_ true. "Just help me a bit. And draw a picture of the whole family. It won't take that long. Please?"

"I don't even know this Charlie guy!" Kate objected.

"So?" I asked. "Please?"

"Why should I?" Kate asked.

"I'll be nice to you forever."

"Please," Kate rolled her eyes and snorted. "I don't think you could be mean if you tried."

"_Please_, Kate?" I begged, using puppy eyes.

"Those don't work on me," Kate said in a monotone.

"Alec, Skyler, help me," I said, turning to them.

"Come on, Kati," Skyler said. "Be nice."

"No way," Kate crossed her arms over her chest.

"It'll only take a half an hour," I said.

"I'll fight you," Jacob said, "if you help her." Kate considered this for a moment, "Hm. Fine."

"No biting," Jacob said.

"Yeah, yeah," Kate waved a hand dismissively.

"Please don't bite him," I begged.

"Sure," Kate said.

"Promise?"

"Yeah, yeah." Kate smirked playfully.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry! Sorry! I wrote it but never got the time to upload it. Heh^.^;**

**I think the next two or three chapters will surprise some people. That is, if you haven't been paying attention to the "little" hints I've been giving. And I decided to use Renesmee's POV because...well, I was bored. I probably won't use her POV alot, just one more time, maybe.**


End file.
